


Comrades in Arms

by Aurora567



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Blood and Injury, Character Death, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gore, Original Female Character - Freeform, Protective Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Romance, Sex, Slow Burning, attackontitan, lovestory, thirdperson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:02:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 56,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28982319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurora567/pseuds/Aurora567
Summary: Alexandra Racher is a young woman who survived the devastation of Shiganshina and vows to herself she will do what ever she can to take her revenge after she finally gets into the 104th training Corp. But what happens when she finds herself in the survey Corp with a curtain short captain?
Relationships: Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/Original Female Character(s), Levi/OC
Comments: 8
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This is an OC/Levi fan fiction written in third person.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the story, plot or characters from Attack On Titian. I do own my OC Alexandra Racher and any other minor small OC's that I may need to toss into the story.
> 
> Warning story will contain mature content such as but not limited to graphic deaths, gore, swearing, and sexual content.

The blonde walked along the streets of Shiganshina, she still bore her dirty faded dress as she walked enjoying the day after some early morning chores. Her dress fluttered in the soft breeze. She nearly skipped down the streets enjoying the warm sunny day, though she was starting to feel hungry and a bit bored as she was walking the streets of the shopping district. The streets lined with little shops where people tried to make some money as they sold whatever they could make. The bright colours of some fresh fruit at a stand drew in big brown eyes as the kid barely in her teens walked up to the stand buying a fresh apple to snack on as she continued to walk.

She had heard the story of the latest scout mission that they had just returned after yet another defeat and great loss. A part of her had always wondered how people who trained so hard could just throw their life away. Or at least that had been her thoughts before that dreaded day. It had seemed like any other normal day, the sun had been shining, people were going about their days. Life had been great for most and at least normal for all. The wall had been their saving grace. But maybe humanity has grown too relaxed? Assuming nothing could break through the wall. Suddenly the sky filled with light and as the flash of lighting suddenly blinded her. And before she knew it the world had gone to hell in the split of a second. The world seemed to freeze around her as she looked up with wide eyes at the head of a titan that loomed over the wall. And suddenly the loud sound of the front gate braking sounded like an explosion beyond belief. Large rocks filled the sky and started to rain down on the people closest to the wall and gate.

Like many others Alex stood frozen struggling to force her body to move. But finally she kicked off and took off running towards the gate. Her father worked in a building not far from the front gate. As people ran away from the devastation she ran towards it forcing her legs to move even though her body had already broken into a cold sweat. She had to help. But how? She didn't know. Her eyes quickly searched the broken town as she came to an area that looked to be nearly flattened. She yelled out for her father hoping he was near by as she wasn't sure where her father may have exactly been as she couldn't even tell what building had been which as they all seemed to be flattened and destroyed. Suddenly a blood curdling scream drew her attention away from someone she had stopped to help to their feet. She froze looking wide eyed as a 13 meter titan started to stroll into the opening. She was defenseless as she watched the creature scoop up a person only to start chewing into them as if it were eating a candy bar. In a second the person was gone and the large pale blue eyes of the creature seemed to suddenly lock onto the kid as she stood there frozen as others had cleared our running for their life. She struggled to move, she was looking into the face of death and she knew it. She watched as the titan started once again to walk towards her.

'Move, damn it move,' she yelled at herself in her mind but she couldn't force her body to move as she stood there suddenly prepared to die as she watched her life flash before her eyes. It was a nice childhood while it lasted just to end up dying the second she saw an actual titan close up and not from the safety of the wall.

She watched the hand reach out for her as the stench of the beast filled her nose. It nearly made her eyes water as she stood there frozen. Suddenly as the hand reached for her nearly grabbing her she watched as a flash of green suddenly filled her vision and the arm that reached for her dropped to the ground from the elbow. The sound of cords screaming filled her ears and she watched as a body flew around the air looking rather graceful as she watched the flashes of green and brown fill her vision before the body disappeared behind the titan before she watched the body drop to the ground in a crash before smoke started to rise from the body. She looked up at a blonde man standing tall on the back of the titan. It was a scout! She could tell by the blood stained green cloak with the freedom wings on the back that he wore. They had barely returned from their last mission; she was surprised to find one in the area. Her brown eyes were met with hard blue eyes.

"You there! Don't just stand there, get moving," the blonde man barked. Her body jolted with the order and strong tone.

"Yes sir," she yelled as she watched a number of bodies suddenly come out of nowhere to land close to the blonde man calling out to him. And with that the young woman turned and started running not about to stick around and listen to the discussion the group was having. She now knew that she was useless at this moment and so she ran for the gate leading to the safety of wall Maria forced to leave her father behind. That day was one she would never forget. The fear, in the people and herself. The many losses of lives as people struggled to escape the Titans that poured into the wall. The knowledge that there was a colossal titan and a hard armored titan had shook the people to their cores. And yet it had truly lit a fire under a particular young woman as she grew up in the slums of wall Trost struggling to survive with her mother who had survived as well. Life was nothing short of hard for the young girl. Alex had grown a new appreciation for the scouts and what they did. And she decided as soon as she was old enough she would join the army.

And so that's what she did. Two years later the blonde woman stood wearing a tight uniform as she stood among less than a hundred other kids roughly her own age. She had dragged herself through hell, and now she was about to start an all new form of hell as she looked up at the bald man who was their teacher as he started to yell at some of the cadets to introduce themselves. Some looked ready to wet themselves and others stood tall not even flinching at the man's yelling. After all some of the people standing there had seen and experienced true fear and this commander was not scary. Finally the commander stood before her as she stood tall refusing to show the man fear as she saluted.

"You! what do you call yourself?" He asked, his voice a boom among the silence.

"Alexandra Racher, from Shiganshina," she replied, giving her first and last name like every other person before her. Though she could feel a few eyes glance over at her for the briefest of seconds before returning to look ahead. It seemed that was all the man needed before he moved to the shivering body standing beside her. There was no comment about her short stature or how she wouldn't even make it as a snack for a titan. The determined look on her face and her home town was enough to earn her some form of respect it seemed. She had glanced around earlier at her fellow cadets, it probably wasn't easy to guess with her small stature and slim build of the girl who barely stood a full 156 centimetres tall even in her uniform boots, was probably one of the older cadets in the group. At the age of 15 she still wasn't as tall as some of the cadets that were still 12. She had tried enrolling earlier with the 103 training Corp but she had been told she was too tiny and they didn't believe her age. But that didn't stop her from finally being enlisted as she stood tall and ready to start her training.

The early days of training had been brutal. Her body ached. Learning to use the ODM gear had not been overly easy for her but once she got the hang of it she picked it up fast enough to not end up eating ground like a handful of others. The first person to come to mind on the first few days was watching Eren Yeager struggle and continuously bash his head against the ground. For a few days it looked like he would be shipped off to the fields. But he pulled through, and ended up he had a broken piece on his belt. But not all had been as lucky the numbers dwindled down fast at first as people gave up when they hit roadblocks or found the training just too hard. But most pushed through spending the three years honing their skill and trying to learn to survive. The blonde had been quiet and often kept to herself. She got along well enough with everyone around her but she didn't go out of her way to make friends like others did. She didn't see the experience as one to be making friends, she kept her mind on the fact she was there to learn how to kill titans and nothing else. And that determination seemed to pay off as she got good grades. Still not the best out of everyone but still her hard work paid off over the three years.

She had always been a bit of a clumsy kid and she couldn't deny at first she worried about how that would affect her. Hand to hand combat was her toughest thing to excel at. On the ground she could still easily trip over her feet if she wasn't careful. But once hooked up to her ODM gear the girl could soar. Her small body made it easy to twist and flip in the air almost making it look like she was dancing as she flew around. Though compared to the class her grades were not top ten she had a lot of competition and any other year she may have ranked top of the class. But to be honest she never cared about being the best. She had already made up her mind where she was going to enlist. Just like a few of her fellow cadets she was aiming to be a scout. And yet it felt like the three years she had spend at the training Corp flew by and before she knew it she was standing with her fellow comrades ready to celebrate their graduation from training as they stood outside in the dark listening to the remind them to pick their future wisely and which of the three regiments they would decide to enter and who had made the top ten in the trainees before they were dismissed and left to go eat and drink to their success.

Alex was sitting at a table sipping some water as she had finished her meal as people seemed to be happy and celebrating. Suddenly the all to familiar voice of her fellow comrade filled the room and everything but his rant fell silent. It wasn't hard to know the kids feeling about the titan's, or how he would join the scouts. Her brown eyes watched as the brunette kid stormed out of the mess hall and his two friends took off after him. No surprise Eren always seemed to make a lot of noise any chance he got, it seemed nothing had changed in the three years of their training. And yet he somehow seemed to know how to influence those around him even if neither him or the people around him realized it. It was easy to read the room even after he had run out upset. Those who looked down at their own feet felt something. He had passion, and dare she even say at times some charisma but at the end of the day he was a hit headed kid who took things to the extreme.

"That goddamn suicidal maniac is gonna get himself killed," she heard the all too familiar complaint from Jean who had been sitting a little ways down the table from her.

"I don't know, I think he's got spunk," she replied, her tone soft but playful as she lifted her glass up to her lips to take a swig. She noticed Jean tense up and looked over at her seemingly surprised to hear her reply. Sure she had kept to herself and usually didn't go out if her way to make small chat but hell. This may be one of the last times she gets to see the man since he had made it so clear during their training years he would work inside the safety of the most inner wall as an MP.

"Call it what you want he's still an idiot," she heard the hiss from Jean which caused her to laugh lightly. A rather foreign sound that caused his eyes to grow wide and his brows to shoot up and hell it even looked like a blush crossed his cheeks a little. Not only was she chatting with him but for the first time in probably her three years of knowing him she had laughed in front of him.

"I never said he wasn't an idiot," she said as she laughed, not at all disagreeing with him. It was one of the instances where she agreed with Jean. Eren could often be an idiot who Mikasa had to tend to and help keep out of trouble for those stupid decisions he would usually make. She placed her now empty cup down on the table as he laughing had stopped before she moved to get up.

"Well I'm going to retire for the night, good night Jean," she said as she pushed herself to her feet about to walk away when he suddenly called out to her. His face now beet red as she paused to look over her shoulder a delicate eyebrow raised to ask him what without voicing her question.

"Oh uhm you should laugh more often, it's a beautiful sound," he stuttered struggling to force himself to say the words. After all what harm could it do surely in a few days the two would never see each other again. The one to become a scout and the other planned to work as a military officer.

"I'll try to remember that Jean," she said, flashing him a soft smile before she gave him a lazy wave and started to walk out of the mess hall leaving the man a mess of nerves and sweat after having worked up the courage to say what he did.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning felt like any other. Though they were no longer students but not net yet full squaded cadets they were still sent out to work not given a day off. Like the others the blonde found herself atop of wall Rose being put to work cleaning and maintaining the canons along the top of the wall. Everyone was doing their own job when the discussion was suddenly brought up of the after dinner tantrum Eren had thrown the night before.

"What? What do you mean you're joining the scouts? What happened to the MP? That was your goal!" Erens voice called out ringing among the what had been silent work.

"Don't worry about it! A guy's allowed to change his mind, okay?" came the reply from Connie who had been cleaning a canon with Sasha. Seemingly not wanting to talk about why he had suddenly after three years made the decision he would join the scouts.

"I think your speech the other night lit a fire under him," came the soft reply from Mina as she had stopped her work to walk over towards the brunette boy who had once again started a bit of an uproar. The kid didn't seem to know how to be quiet.

"Ain't no one talking to you! His temper tantrum had nothing to do with it," Conny said as if that would magically make everyone believe him.

"Take it easy. It's not like you're the only one," Thomas said as he walked towards the small group from his own job. He blushed softly and lifted his right hand to softly scratch at his cheek a little embarrassed.

"What? Are you serious?" Eren asked, surprised to be learning that his words seemed to actually have the power to change people's minds. It really wasn't all that surprising to hear that Eren's passion had the power to affect others. By this time Alex had stopped her own work and found herself walking towards the small group. Having been listening the entire time.

"Can you guys keep a secret?" Sasha's voice suddenly cut in. Her cheeks red and she looked like she was about to start drooling as she appeared to hold something under her jacket.

"Cause I totally just helped myself to the officers pantry," she said, starting to breathe a bit heavy as she pulled out a chunk of meat from her jacket as drool started to run down her chin. Which caused a mini uproar as people warned her she could be thrown in the clink for stealing meat. But Sasha didn't seem worried about the punishment for her action, boasting that once they take back wall Maria they will once again have lots or land to raise livestock on. That was enough to seem to settle some nerves as some of her fellow cadets spoke up; they wanted a slice of meat as Sasha stashed her little stolen bundle of joy away.

"Come on guys we need to get back to work before we get in trouble," the blonde finally spoke up drawing attention over towards her as she received a few mumbled words of agreement as they all turned and once again started to do their jobs once again.

What was to happen next would change their life's all together once again. The sky had been clear, they never expected the day to try and duplicate that day 5 years ago. And yet it did as the peace was broken when a flash of lightning blinded the cadets. They stood frozen as they stood there face to face with the gigantic titan.

A gust of wind whipped around them as a loud boom filled the air. Steam, dust and wind only became stronger as Alex watched herself and her fellow comrades suddenly be blown off of the top of the wall. Her body moved quickly, her hands pulling out and engaging her ODM gear as it grabbed the wall stopping her from plummeting to the ground. Her wide brown eyes looked around to spot most of her comrades hanging off the wall just like her. All but one. She watched a body continuing to fall not reacting.

"Samuel!" More than one voice yelled out to the dark haired man to continue to fall. The first to react was Sasha as she unhooked her gear and started to run down the wall. She was lucky enough to use her ODM gear to grab one of Samuel's ankles and the other grabbed the wall stopping them both from falling. For a second all the body's along the wall remained frozen concerned looking down at the groaning body of their friend who appeared to be bleeding from his head but alive now thanks to Sasha.

That was a close one, Samuel was lucky Sasha reacted so fast to save him. She may have been an empty black hole always consuming food. But it couldn't be ignored the girl had good instincts and reaction time.

Every looked down with wide eyes as they took in the sight of the front gate being destroyed. It was just like five years ago. The wall had been breached. Titans were going to flood the city of Trost just like they did Shiganshina. Memories of that horrible day suddenly flooded Alex’s mind. The pain ached in her head and she felt a cold sweat break across her body. No not again, how could this happen again? She felt panic trying to take over her body.

"Fixed Canon maintenance team 4, prepare for combat," the yell had come from Eren as he drew his blades and drew some eyes towards him. It was the hissing of cords that drew Alex's attention away from her hanging comrade and she looked up in time to see Eren disappear up and over other the top of the wall. As usual the idiot was diving head first into danger. But it seemed his actions were what she needed to be able to be snapped out of the sudden feeling of despair that had washed over her mind only moments ago.

"Mina help Sasha get Samuel somewhere safe," the usually soft voice of the young blonde woman barked, forcing Mina to look away from the gate and up to her before she nodded her head. It seemed her barking orders had jump started her fellow comrades as they all seemed to be pulled from their fear ridden minds.

Suddenly a crash was heard and sudden debre started to rain down on them as it became all they could do to make sure chunks of cannon and wall didn't know any of them off the wall. Alex found herself flying to her right running along the wall as she avoided a falling piece of canon. As the two girls helped get Samuel down to a roof near the wall she looked over at Thomas and Connie who still remained along the wall with her.

"Let's go Eren needs help," she called out to the two men getting nods before she heard her own cords of her ODM gear scream and the air of her gear fling her up wards as she flew up to land on the top of the wall followed by the sound of two other sets of boots hitting the ground. She looked around to see no titan as the small group stood there. Thomas ran to the edge of the wall to look down at Eren who had been hanging from the wall.

"Eren, did you finish it?" Thomas yelled out as he ran over to look down at Eren.

"No. It's the same as five years ago. He appeared out of nowhere, then vanished just as suddenly!" Eren growled pissed off that he had missed his chance to try and take out the colossal titan. Finally he pulled himself up to land on the top of the wall to join the small group of his fellow cadets. Only to start apologizing as he approached the group. The group was quick to tell him not to worry about it. Though the young woman was confused and curious. How the hell did a titan over 50 meters tall suddenly disappear in the blink of an eye? It didn't make any sense but now was not the time to sit down and ponder over such things.

"What are you doing?" Called out an unfamiliar voice that drew all four sets of eyes to look over at a garrison soldier who suddenly appeared up the top of the wall to bark orders at the four cadets that had just been standing there before he continued, " the contingency plan for the colossal titan has already begun. Now get to HQ and those who saw the colossal titan don't forget to report."

"Yes, Sir!" the four yelled as they stood in line saluting the higher ranked soldier. And with that order the four young soldiers were on their way towards QH ready to be given new orders as the garrison regiment started to fill the walls and prepare to fire cannons at the incoming titans.

The sound of a higher up barking orders filled the room over the sound of boots running and the new young recruits panicking as they started to prepare their gear and their minds to go into battle against titans. Alex refilled her gas tanks and was ready to be told where to go. Erens voice suddenly filled her ears. It was always hard to miss the brunette kid's voice as he spoke. He was kneeling beside Armin who seemed to be struggling with filling his gas tanks and appeared to be on the brink of a mental breakdown as Eren seemed to give him the best words of encouragement as he could. Mikasa was standing behind the two. But now wasn't the time to allow herself to be pulled away from her own preparation. Slipping the now full tanks of gas into their position at her hips she stood up. She double checked her blades but since they were fresh unused she felt confident taking them with her into battle. And with that the blonde girl stood tall and made her way out of the resupply hall just as Eren finished his little speech about how this time would be different.

"Tch," she clicked her tongue off her teeth. She herself didn't believe Erens words. This time would be different? Yeah right. It was about to become a battle for survival, one that was not in their favour. But she was ready to die fighting and that was where her resolve stood. She may not have believed they could win but she wasn't about to back down either.

She lined up with the other cadets as Kitz Woermann proceeded to tell them what they were expected to do. Which for the most part was easy you killed titans and did as they were trained to do, all while trying not to die. They were also tasked with relaying messages between the three sections of the battle field. All sounded easy enough, in theory. Suddenly the mention of the armored titan was brought up at Woermann proceeded to warn the cadets that they could very well be expected to see toe armored titan. Panic seemed to strike many faces in the crowd as mumbled quickly started. It was understandable they all know if the armored titan showed up they were in a lot of trouble and humanity would be lost.

"Silence," the loud voice of Woermann called out, forcing all the scared chatter to stop as he continued to go on about how the vanguard was currently engaged in battle with the titans. Honestly Alex felt the briefing now was a waste of time; they already knew all the issues at hand and had already been told what to do. Both her fists tightened as she felt her nails dig into her palms as she stood there. But finally his long winded speak came to an end and he told the cadets to decent wall Rose with their lives. With a final salute the cadets were left to branch off into their assigned groups.

It oddly felt relieving to find herself in a group with at least some familiar faces as she walked toward Ymir, and Connie.

"Alex," the shaved head kid greeted her with a smile seemingly he too was happy to see another familiar face.

"Connie, Ymir," she said, greeting the two. Of course Ymir didn't look as unimpressed as always but still gave the small woman a nod as a greeting. Though the brunette jumped to life spotting a particular different young small blonde woman walking towards them.

"Hey Krista," she yelled out eager to wrap an arm over the girl's small shoulders. Krista always did seem to be the only person Ymir cared about. They were quickly greeted by their fellow cadets before they were ready to leave. Alex could feel her heart racing, the sound of her heart beat filled her ears. Fear gripped at her body like many around her. She could hear people being sick. Some had curled up into the fetal position and were muttering. Of course among all of the commotion an all to familiar voice rang out. Alex glanced over in time to see Eren pushing Jean into a pillar as he proceeded to go off about the hell that was the last three years of training. As stupid as it was she couldn't deny his words held some odd form of comfort as she thought back to all the times their training had nearly killed them. The times she wished it would when her body would ach but she would push through it, or when she felt like she was gonna lose toes and fingers in the freezing snow as they trekked over the mountain that one horrible snow storming day. That damn suicidal maniac had some truth to his words. They would live and Jean could see his comfy interior life tomorrow once he survived this hell first. She watched Jean storm off dragging the poor sobbing Daz with him. By that point in time she drew her attention away as she looked over at her comrades as they proceeded to start to leave the plaza. She didn't allow herself to show any fear as she left HQ with her comrades and started off on their tasks of joining the fight. This was what she had been waiting 5 years for now.


	3. Chapter 3

The small group of young soldiers were quick to take off leaving the ground to move quickly through the sky. Alex's large brown eyes continuously glanced around, she was well aware titans could come out of nowhere and at any time. Moving quickly was a necessity if you wanted to survive. The sounds of screams and cries of terror filled the sky as they started to approach the areas titans had been able to infiltrate.

"5 meter titan to the right," Alex called out, spotting the ever so slight movement before a head leered around a corner. She was quick to change her direction. A new spark ignited in her at the spot of the large headed titan. She could hear the yells of her comrades telling her not to take off towards it. But their cries fell on deaf ears as she moved quickly. The sound of the metal cords of her ODM gear screaming suddenly sounded far off as she sped through the air. Pushing herself up she propelled herself up high above the titan before shooting a spiked hook into the skin of the titans nap. Pressing the gas in her ODM gear she flew down toward the titan with great speed slicing through the nape in one swift blow taking out a chunk of flesh nearly larger than herself. The beast proceeded to crash to the ground, she could hear the titan start to sizzle and the stench of burning flesh filled her nose as he comrades shot over her head yelling out to her. Releasing the grappling hooks from the dead titan she turned jumping off once again flying through the sky to catch up with her team.

"Holy cow Alex that was amazing," she heard the astonished voice of Krista as she caught up to the group of her comrades. Was it really? She didn't think so. She had simply done what she was taught to do and that was simply kill titans.

"It's not that amazing, I'm just doing my job," she replied as she flew through the sky off to Krista's right side as Ymir remained on her left keeping an eye on the small blonde girl. Krista was probably one of the few comrades Alex had that she would actually call a friend. The girl was really too nice for her own good. She wouldn't hesitate to help someone, even a complete stranger. And when the small blonde had noticed Alex staying off to herself she was the first to approach the angry off putting young woman. And before Alex knew it the small petite woman had made herself a friend of the quiet woman. Though that usually ended up with the blonde being dragged along with the group of friends Krista had made. That's pretty much how she got to know Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Marco, Connie, Sasha, Reiner, Bertolt, and many others during the three years of training they underwent together.

Maybe it was the fact that both blonde girls were short that helps them connect so well? Or just the fact that Krista would not hesitate to drag Alex along with her whenever it was meal time or on days off when Alex would try to enjoy a relaxing day off reading under a tree. Krista always seemed to make it her mission to not let her fellow shrimp be alone.  
"Stay with the team Alex," Ymir scolded the other blonde woman who had rejoined her teammates after taking on a titan on her own.

"Ymir," came a soft warning from Krista which was all Ymir needed to not say anything more. Alex simply nodded her head at Krista in thanks for reining Ymir in. To be honest Alex always found the two women a cute couple. Though they usually avoided the conversation or jokes they still seemed so much more than just friends.

"Stay focused everyone," Came the command from Connie who wasn't far off of the three woman as they all nodded their heads agreeing as they moved within the city not running into any more titan's. Suddenly the flash of yellow and a body curled up on a roof had grabbed Krista's eye as she called out she saw something. The team suddenly took a hard left landing on a roof to see Armin sitting on the roof. His eyes were glazed over and he didn't look like he was even breathing.

Connie was the first to reach Armin grabbing his shoulders as he started to shake the small blonde boy calling out to him. The group watched Armin as his eyes slowly blinked and the haze that seemed to encroach them was gone. The team spread out with their back's to Armin and Connie keeping their eyes open for any incoming titans while they had stopped moving and were now at risk of attack. Connie was going off with questions to the blonde asking about his team, how he was, what had happened, why he was slimy. Suddenly Armin burst out yelling uncontrollably about being useless.

"Armin where is everyone?" Connie asked as Armin pulled at his hair nearly rocking as he sat on the roof.

"That's enough Connie. Can't you tell he's all that's left," Came the cool and calm voice of Ymir who said what everyone else was thinking. Alex felt her stomach tighten and for once since that horrible day she almost thought she was going to be sick. She struggled to take in a shaken breath. Thomas, Mina, Nack, Milius, and Eren were all gone. Alex could hear Connie and Ymir talking but their voices were muffled as if her head had been stuffed under water. How could that happen? How could Eren die? The boy had always been so strong willed it was a hard pill to swallow hearing that the spitfire young man was gone.

Suddenly Armin stood up and took off tears still streaming down his face. Connie ran to the edge of the roof to watch Armin take off.

"Lets go Connie. We have orders to advance," Came a voice but Alex couldn't even comprehend who said it. The blonde took a deep breath, now was not the time to mourn the death of her friends. No now was the time to take revenge. Let the loss fuel the fire that drove her and that's what she did as she took off running across the roof before engaging her ODM gear to keep up with her teammates as they left Armin to hopefully make it somewhere safe. But now was not the time to worry about the small blonde kid.

"Stay on guard we have an incoming titan," came a yell that drew the blonde girl from her mind and worries as she aimed her grapples at the incoming titans ankles pulling herself around she fired her grapples against into the back of the other ankle. As she slid along the ground before the first ankle she sliced into it before being propelled towards the other ankle taking it out as well as she jumped back to watch the titan crash to the ground before Ymir moved in for the kill. The duo shared a glance before they continued into their way. Carefully taking out titans as they tried to move through out the city. 

Soon the weather changed and the earth seemed to be mourning the lost of lives as the sky seemed to be crying as drops of rain fell. The sound of the bells to retreat had sounded and all able bodied where to head back to the safety of the wall. Alex had lost track of how many titans she had killed or assisted. But now her team and a number of other cadets where now standing among the top of some roofs. The look of defeat and fear blanketed the soldiers. They where running on fumes. Their gas tanks empty. Even Alex was down to her last set of blades and her gear felt light as it was all nearly empty. Her uniform had clung to her sweaty body as she did welcome the chance to catch her breath. But the fear of the danger they where all in was all to real and most seemed to struggle with the realization.

"Hey Jean what are we going to do now?" Connie's worried voice called out breaking the heavy silence that had set over the young inexperienced solders who had some how managed to survive. Jean honestly looked defeated as he sat on the roof. His knees had been pulled up to his chest and slightly parted as his head hung down between his knees. For once the man looked small as he sat there tucked inwards as if he may be able to hide from the world. Alex felt too unease to let herself sit down though the muscles in her body where aching. Sure they had trained hard for this day. But still she had pushed herself hard and her body was now unhappy about it. But her uneasiness kept her on her feet and hard brown eyes looked around always on the look out.

"There's nothing we can do. They finally issues the order to retreat, but without more gas we can't get up the wall's. We are all going to die," he said picked his head up to rest it against his right palm as his face grew dark as he answered Connie and went off about the cowards in the resupply building who had barracked themselves in once the titans had reached the building. Without someone running supplies the solders where in trouble.

Alex couldn't do anything but stand back and listen to her two comrades. Both men where not wrong they didn't have enough gas but she was not ready to just lay down and die. She stormed over towards Jean grabbed his shirt in her hand and actually pulled the guy up and off the roof forcing him to kneel so his shirt wouldn't rip.

"What kind of bull shit is that? If your ready to just die then go down to the street and be eaten!" the blonde yelled. Her outburst had drawn everyone's eyes over towards her. She had always been so quiet, often not speaking more than a few words at a time only when people talked to her. But now she was fuming as she gripped Jean's shirt.

"What the hell do you expect us to do," he said his eyes looked empty up at her. "No one here has the ability of to lead such a suicidal mission."

Okay his follow up was true leading the group of solders on this suicide mission would not be easy. But before she could argue with him more on the subject Mikasa suddenly landed on the roof looking between Alex and Jean apparently hearing the discussion between the two.

"Well I'm still not gonna stay here and wait to die," she hissed at him as she let go of his shirt and stepped back from him. Mikasa's eyes had not lingered between the two for long before she started to look around. You didn't need to be a mind reader to know who she was looking for. Spotting Annie, Reiner, Bertolt, and Marco standing together she ran towards them asking about Eren. She apparently didn't spot Armin curled up against a wall away from everyone else as he simple stared off with wide shaken eyes.

"Actually Armin is over there," Reiner said pointing to the empty looking blonde boy who for the moment seemed to be a shell of his old self. It was hard to even try and comprehend exactly what the poor kid had seen in the simple last few hours. Dropping Jeans shirt and turning away from him Alex walked over towards the edge of the roof and looked down at the street. Her eyes glanced around at the titans in the distance that she could spot. She knew there where more than she couldn't see lumbering around. It was only so long till the group of bodies would draw in the ravines beasts. And then what? They wouldn't be able to get far enough away to get to somewhere safe. Their gas would run out and they would find themselves stranded somewhere and helpless.

Suddenly Armin cried out that the 34th team had been whipped out and died in the line of duty. Finally hearing that Eren was dead the group of cadets that had known him where stunned. A heavy blanket fell over the young solders. Hush mumbled started to fill the silent as people who expected the brunette suicidal maniac would be immortal seemed to struggle with the idea they could survive this of Eren had not. Mikasa on the other hand seemed to still be extremely calm and collected while panic and dread washed over nearly everyone else. Standing strong she walked over towards the edge of the roof.

"I will do it, I am stronger than you. I will do it even on my own," she ranted calling all her fellow comrades cowards. Some spoke up telling her she was insane to take on the titans alone. And yet she made it clear she had to try, after all there was no chance of living if they didn't try. And with that the dark haired woman had turned and taken off. Sure Mikasa was the strongest person they all knew but going off alone was suicidal. For a second Alex assumed that was the woman's plan. She would fight till the end and die so she could be with Eren again. Her unwavering loyalty to the boy bordered on the line of insane. And yet it was also admirable to see her so strong.

"Were we trained to let a fellow solders fight alone? Do you really want to become cowards?" Came the strong words from Jean before he started running down the roof to take off after Mikasa. Alex arched an eye brow softly surprised to see Jean had once again returned to his more normal self.

"Well I don't know about you but I'm not about to let Jean show me up," Alex said lightly flashing a smile at her friends before she to turned run after Jean and Mikasa. She knew this was a suicide run. But she agreed with Mikasa she would rather die trying than not try at all. And with that she could hear the war cry of the other solders before everyone took off towards the resupply building.


	4. Chapter 4

She could hear the screams of her comrades when someone would run out of gas and their ODM gear would suddenly stop working. They where stranded on the ground now unable to get themselves to at least a some what save roof. Alex had noticed Mikasa being reckless and she paid for it when she ran out of gas and crashed on a roof. Armin and Connie where quick to go to her aid leaving Jean to lead the way. He seemed unsure of himself as he watched his two friend leave him. Alex pulled up beside him.

"Don't look back. Keep pushing forwards they will be okay," she yelled out over the hissing of her ODM gear. Jeans eyes then darted to look over at the small blonde.

"After all what happened to that cocky attitude you usually have?" She asked trying to lighten the mood as she forced a small smirk to look over at him. Her words seemed to sooth him at least a little as his movement didn't faultier as he continued to lead the way.

Alex tried to take out every titan she could that crossed her path. But the panic that her gear would run out first was a fear that filled the back of her mind. Her gear could die at any moment and she would fall to the ground, probably hurt herself and be titan food. Though the fear had her hands shake she didn't let it slow her down. They had nearly reached the resupply building and where sitting on a roof waiting to regroup. Marco had now stood beside Jean offering up his own words of advice and encouragement it seemed. Suddenly a cry for help drew everyone's attention to yet another solder who's gear had stopped working just before they reached the roof top. It seemed the trapped solder had drawn the attention of some of the titans lingering outside the resupply building. Two others suddenly took off to try and help their friend. Cries telling them not to fell on deaf ears as they rushed to their death as titans grabbed them. For a split second the survivors could only stand there watching before Jean called out drawing everyone's attention as he took off running from roof to roof trying to use as little gas as possible. As horrible as their deaths where the solders that died served a great purpose allowing the rest to make a run for it and get past the titans and be able to crash through the windows of the QH. Alex hissed as glass sliced through her left arm as she crashed through a window shattering it with her small body. The slight warm liquid started to drip down her arm but she paid it no attention as she forced herself to her feet and look around the room. A number of unknown faces looked in awe over top of their makeshift hiding places at the solders who had crashed into the building. She couldn't deny it was warming to see many of the people she considered friends had survived the suicide run.

Armin, Mikasa and Connie had not made it yet but they would have some trouble with Mikasa being unable to use her gear. The best thing was to get to the supply room and get themselves some new supplies and head out to help. Alex sheathed her swords before grabbing her left arm with her hand. Wincing at the pain but she ignored it the best she could as she turned to head Jean screaming at the resupply team who had been hiding. She couldn't blame him for his anger, the cowards had chosen to hide rather than even try and fight off the titans that broke into the building. But it seemed Marco was already on Jean holding him back a quick glance around the room was good enough to tell why Jean was so pissed. At least half of their comrades had not made the race to the building alive. That was a lot of people dead who would never had died had the resupply team done their job.

"Get down!" Came a rough yell from Reiner only mere seconds before a far wall suddenly came crashing in and the team was greeted with the eyes of a titan peering in at them like a kid with its face stuck to a fish bowl. Panic set in as many people started to run for the door to the room trying to get into a different area of the building. Alex's instincts where to once again draw her blades as she took up a battle stance. She noticed Jean just standing there, frozen as titans peered into the wall through the building. She was about to call out to him when all of the sudden a fist appeared and the titans that had been leering at them where sent flying. What the hell was that? Alex ran up to stand beside Jean completely caught or guard by the sudden action. The two stood there wide eyed as a dark haired male titan let out a scream and continued to take on a very basic fighting stance.

"What is that?" Jean's tone was so soft she almost didn't hear his question but it mimicked the same question she had. The two solders standing in awe where quickly pulled from their thoughts and the crashing of more glass filled their ears and they where greeted with the sight of Mikasa, Armin and Connie. Connie was taping his gas tank mumbling about how close that was and how he was out of gas. But it was relieving to see the three of them had some how survived.

"Mikasa. Your alive," was the stuttered and clearly surprised response from Jean as he approached the small group. Connie started to roughly hit Armin on the back drawing a mumbled ouch from the boy.

"Your plan worked," was the praise that Connie was giving the small blonde boy. Jean proceeded to ask about the titan listening to the three inform the group that the dark haired abnormal titan didn't care about people. It was easy to see the skeptic looks on the solders faces finding it hard to believe. Alex had been busy listens to the conversations he had not noticed Sasha come up beside her. The small gasp drew her attention away from the conversation to look over at the potato loving girl.

"Alex your arm your bleeding!" She said sounding rather frantic at the blood that had started to drip to stain through even her brown jacket.

"Oh it's nothing just a scratch," she said calmly once again sheathing her blades and pulling her jacket off. She ripped the white blouse sleeve off at her shoulder. It wasn't clean but was better than nothing as she ripped the sleeve into a long strip trying to use the cleanest part before she wrapped it around the cut a few times. Holding one end in her teeth she knotted the material and pulled tight wincing softly at the shot of pain. Once she was done bandaging herself up she slipped her jacket back on and glanced at the hole in the wall as she could hear the screams of the abnormal titan. Slowly the groups of soldiers made their way out of the room. I he storage area still needed to be cleared of titans before they could restock their gear. They bodies shuffled down some stairs till they came to a supply elevator. Some people still looked rather defeated. Others looked exhausted. It was easy to be both in that moment. Connie was going off about the abnormal helping them till Reiner spoke up.

"And what's to stop him from turning on us?" That was the question everyone but Mikasa, Armin and Connie wanted an answer to.

"Guess we will worry about that once we are safe," was the simple reply Connie gave. It wasn't the best answer but really who could say for sure. There was a chance that the abnormal titan could turn on them at any moment. But with the sounds of fighting, screaming and crashing outside the QH building it seemed pretty obvious that odd abnormal was still fighting the other titans and for now that was a good thing for the group of soldiers. Right now the bigger issue was how the hell where they going to deal with the titans that where wondering around in the supply area? Suddenly Jean and a handful of other solders walked into the room carrying box's in hand.

"Good news! Courtesy of the military police and covered with a layer of dust," he called out as they put down the boxes opening them up to reveal some unused guns. For a minute everyone seemed skeptical. What good would guns do against titan? But it seemed Armin had an idea as he told them to fill the guns with buckshot rounds. Jean seemed skeptical telling Armin they may as well of being firing spitballs at the titans. But Armin seemed adequate that his idea would work as he told them that they would use the guns to blind the titans while 7 other solders would take the chance to swoop down and kill the creatures in one blow. It was risky, but what other option did they have? Armin may not of been the strongest of the solders in the group but his intellect was on an entirely different level. I've boy could strategize and he did it well even while under pressure.

"Alright then who will be the 7 to take out the titans?" Alex asked ready to step up herself only to have Jean turn and bark at her.

"Well it won't me you, your injured," he replied which only brought a scowl to the girls face.

"That doesn't matter I can still draw my blades," she hissed back at him. But now it was Armin who stepped in to ensure the argument didn't escalate.

"I think the top of the class should. Mikasa, Connie, Annie, Sasha, Jean, Reiner, Bertolt. Those will be our seven," he said softly panic seemed to pull at him as he seemed nervous.

"It's not like it matters, the risk is the same for everyone," came Annie's response and for a second Alex wondered if it was the woman's why of also trying to make sure everyone felt their role was important. But Alex wasn't about to try and think to hard over the simple words.

"I'm more than happy to be talked out of this. One half baked strategy isn't out only option?" Armin said suddenly looking like he was ready to break out into a sweat, or wet himself.

"Hey now don't be so hard on yourself. Come on for our only plan it's pretty well thought out," came the soft reply from Marco who seemed to just want to try and help sooth everyone's nervous. And he wasn't wrong it wasn't like anyone else was able to even think of any other way to deal with the titans in the main supply area. Everyone was getting ready to do their part as guns where loaded, and just everyone tried to mentally preparing themselves. Alex had pulled her long hair out of the braid wanting to rebraid her hair as a lot of strands had pulled loose and fallen into her face. Her fingers brushed the long golden strands back into place before her slender fingers started to braid the strands again.

"Your hairs so long," came the random words from Sasha who was walking towards her.

"Oh, thanks," she said softly not sure what else to say as she finished the braid and twisted the hair tie around the end before letting the braid fall against her back.

"Like it's so long and beautiful. Lots of woman cut their hair off during training but you never did," Sasha said complementing the blondes long hair as she eyed it up.

"I contemplated chopping it off but I can't bring myself to cut it, it's just easier to tie it up," she said as she watched the taller brunette girl circle around her eying up the blondes beautiful long locks. Sasha gasped hearing the blondes words as she reached out to softly pet the blonde braided hair.

"No you can't ever cut off your beautiful hair," Sasha said as she was pretty much petting the blonde. Alex only stood there slightly flushed and not to sure exactly how to deal with Sasha's closeness. But the thought of someone ogling her hair brought back the memories of when she was a child and would sit on the floor between her mother's legs as her mother would brush her long blonde hair and praise her for the long beautiful locks of hair her daughter was able to grow. But that was a long time ago and had not happened since. She shook her head softly forcing the memories away from her mind.

"Come on Sasha we need to join the others and get ready to clear the resupply room," Alex said forcing the woman off of her as the two started to walk over to join the rest of the solders. Guns where loaded and it seemed that for the most part everything was ready to go. And so the solders picked up their guns and carefully under Armin's orders they filed into the square elevator before watching the other 7 make their way into the rafters as the elevator started to roll downwards. Alex could hear some people lightly panic, the shaking of hands, the stutter of breaths.

"Hold steady. Don't fire yet," Marco yells as the titans started to walk in towards them being drawn in by the scent of the humans gathered in the elevator. The solders had to wait, till finally they where close enough and Armin finally yelled out to fire. With the gun held up to her right shoulder she looked down the barrel. She aimed directly at the left eye of the titan that was about to start to reach for the people in the elevator till finally Marco yelled out to fire and the sound of every gun went off at the same time as smoke filled the room. Alex's eyes watered as the smell of gun powder stung her nose, her shoulder ached a bit from the kick back of the rifle. In a split second the 7 selected solders flew from the rafters attacking the titans. And now the stench of burning flesh mixed with gun smoke. Alex found the smell so bad her stomach nearly emptied itself. Suddenly two of the titans moved and panic washed over the people as Mikasa and Annie quickly jumped to action dispatching the two remaining titans. And with that everyone seemed to sigh and let go of the breath everyone had been holding. The relief of knowing they had won this small battle was like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders. But now was not the time to celebrate as the solders where quick to start filling their gas tanks and grabbing new blades.


	5. Chapter 5

Sasha's cries of thanks at Mikasa had quickly calmed down. The group really didn't have time to waste. Spirits seemed high though as the cadets rushed to start filling their gas tanks. Alex had moved to refill her blades first slipping the new blades into her ODM gear as she waited her turn to be able to refill her gas tanks. Taking the moment to look around it was a hard reminder of how the small group was alive simply based on luck. But still people cheered that they would live. And it couldn't be denied having fresh gear meant that the group was more likely to survive now. But they where not out of the woods yet. Titans where still swarming the city, the armored titan had not yet been seen. And that thought alone was worrisome. But no one seemed to be thinking about it as they refilled their gear. Sasha still seemed shaken up about her mistake as Connie tried to sooth her the best he could. Alex smiled softly at the scene. Those two always did seem so close and oddly made a cute looking couple to her. Her brown eyes glanced around spotting Jean and Marco sitting side by side also chatting about something. But Alex didn't let her attention linger as she filled her tanks and slid them back into their position on her ODM gear.

And with that the group was restocked and ready to head out. Their spirits seemed more raised as they walked out of the building and took off. The hiss of gas and the screech of cords filled the sky as the small army took off to the sky once more to rejoin the battle. Alex was walking out behind Bertolt and Reiner who stopped to stand with Armin who was looking up at one of the roofs. It wasn't surprising to spot Mikasa standing up there, but her back was facing them. It seemed something had caught her attention but what? Armin was quick to move to join her and they both seemed to be onlookers to something when they both suddenly stood there softly talking to each other. Now Alex was curious and she set up flying up onto the roof landing quietly to walk up to the two about to open her mouth to ask what they where looking at but she paused mid step. The titans had started to eat the one abnormal.

"Can he not regenerate like the others?" Armin asked softly almost sounding more like a question for himself rather than to someone else.

"This may sound stupid, but I was hoping he would be the key for us," Mikasa said seemingly ignoring Armin's question about the abnormal.

"She's right," came the rough reply from Reiner. When the hell did him, Annie, Bertolt and Jean join them on the roof? Alex had been so engrossed with the sight of the titans she hadn't even noticed that they had been joined.

"He's to valuable to just let die. There's too much we can learn from him. I think it's perfectly clear our priority should be to ward the scavengers off him," Reiner stated as he stood there staring at Armin, Mikasa and Alex.

"Are you mad? We've got a path out of this nightmare and you want to stay?" Came the concerned question from Jean as he looked up at Reiner with wide eyes shocked to hear that they all wanted to risk their lives to try and save a titan.

"Think about it! Having an abnormal as an alley would be an incredible advantage right?" Annie fired back at Jean who still didn't seem to like it as he continued to argue. Suddenly Armin gasped. That drew Alex's attention away from the arguing Jean. It seemed a particular incoming titan had grabbed the blonde boys attention. And it seemed that titan had also grabbed the attention of the abnormal as it let off a scream and suddenly started to push throw the bodies of scavengers that had been eating away at it. If Alex didn't know any better she would of thought the sight of the sudden new oncoming titan enraged the dark haired abnormal causing it to go into a rage even as its arms where ripped off. It sank its teeth into the titans neck throwing it into another titan before finally the dark haired abnormal let out one final cry before it crumpled to the ground. Jean was quick to dismiss the titan as being dead and now no longer an issue for them to worry about as he turned read to leave. But the rest remained rooted unable to take their eyes off the titan as they watched what unfolded as Eren suddenly emerged from the back of the titans neck.

Mikasa was quick to spring into action at the sight of her reason to live as she flew to the ground and took off running for the steaming titan. She embraced Eren tightly pressing her ear up to his listening to his heart beat as she started to cry as she held the unconscious boy. Everyone was quick to join her having to wait for her to calm down before helping her move Eren of the remains of the titan. Armin was at Mikasa's side trying to sooth her while everyone else remained on guard. If titans started to advance they would need to get off the ground.

Finally Mikasa calmed down enough that they where able to get Eren up onto the roof of the HQ building. Mikasa still refused to let go but her sobbing seemed more controlled. Everyone else stood around still completely shocked by what they had seen. Just what the hell was that? Alex had never heard of a person just popping out a titan like that before. Hell if she had not seen it for herself she would never of believed it. Alex eyed up the brunette boy, after all Armin had said it himself he had been eaten. So how was it the kid was still alive? It left her brain swimming in questions. But now wasn't the time to ask anyone about them. For now Eren was live and with all 4 limbs it was hard to be anything more than grateful and amazed. Alex watched as Armin struggled to hold back his tears as he now approached Eren and dropped to his knees to pick up the boys left hand that was missing most of the arm sleeve. Armin lacked his fingers with Eren's all the while mumbling something about how is this possible. Alex glanced over to take in the look of her fellow cadets as they stood back unable to do anything but watch the trio. Jean looked like he had broke out into a cold sweat. Annie looked as emotional as always, Alex never could understand what was going through the blonde woman's mind. Suddenly Jean moved to look over the ledge of the roof.

"Okay. So, uh... Eren did all this?" He asked still sounding astonished and unsure if his eyes had been working properly as he took in the sight of all the dead titans below them. Alex could understand his skepticism it truly was hard to believe that Eren, had become a titan and then proceeded to go on a rampage killing any and every other titan that crossed his path till he was finally brought down after battle. It was all a rough pill to swallow for those who had even seen.

"It doesn't matter, what has happened happened we do not have time to dwell on the thought. The order to retreat was given and we need to get to the safety of the wall," Alex finally spoke up drawing the eyes of Jean, Annie, Reiner and Bertolt over towards her. Bertolt had actually jumped when the small woman spoke up. She was always so quiet and small or was easy enough for a person to not notice her. But when she did speak her voice wasn't soft or quiet. She was a woman who spoke with a purpose. But they all knew she was right. They needed to get back to the safety of the wall and regroup with the MP's ant Garrison regimen and await new orders.

Mikasa was stubborn refusing to let anyone else help her carry Eren back to the wall. It wasn't worth the arguing and so they let her but the group stayed close together keeping titans off of Mikasa as she carried Eren back to the wall. Though once they returned Armin, Mikasa and Eren where quickly pulled away by MP's while the rest where left to wonder what was going on. Eren had remained unconscious the entire time they carried him back to the wall. Alex couldn't help but feel uneasy, she worried for Eren, although he looked okay there where still just so many question and an uneasy feeling that had set in her gut.

The streets along the edge of wall Rose where filled with solders of both regiments, the scouts had gone one out a mission just that early morning leaving only 2/3rds of the full armed forces of Paradis available for combat. Alex sat between her friends with Connie to her right, while those who had seen the episode with Eren sitting to her left. She could hear Connie reliving the experience of how they wouldn't be alive now if they had not gotten to HQ and refilled their gas to those who would listen. Alex toned out the chatter as Connie filled Ymir, Krista and some other solders in on their ordeal. Her sore body welcomed the chance to finally sit down and relax. A medic had even offered her clean bandages for her wound which she took with a thanks. Now able to clean and dress her wound properly she slipped her uniform jacket back on.

The conversation suddenly shifted a bit as Ymir called out to Jean asking him what had happened. She assumed now the conversation had shifted to Eren. And Jean answered as honestly as he could. They had been given strict orders not to mention what they had seen to anyone.

"It makes sense though, if the masses where to learn about what we saw it would cause an uproar," Alex said softly her gaze drifted over to Jean who was surely the only one to hear her or at least be paying enough attention to her to notice her reply. Jean looked simply pissed off and his reply to her was simply to aggressively take another swig of water from the canteen he had.

"Oh by the way Jean. I owe you an apology," the blonde spoke up now not worried if others heard her. This though seemed to surprise Jean as he arched an eye brow at her.

"Huh! For what?" He asked seemingly forgetting when she nearly ripped his shirt when she got up in his face cursing at him.

"For earlier on the roof top when we were stranded. I shouldn't of cursed at you," she answered reminding him of what had happened earlier in the day. Though now it felt like it had been days ago when in reality it had only been hours ago.

"Oh that you don't owe me anything," he told her as he sat back. She flashed him a soft smile as thanks and opened her mouth to thank him when suddenly the air filled with the sound of a single canon fire. But it was the direction on which it came from that had everyone jump to their feet. It was within wall Rose that the canon had fired. Jean and Alex jumped to their feet at the some time. The shots of pain through her body ignored as she looked around wildly.

"Over there is that titan smoke?" Came a cry from a random solder that drew everyone's else's over to look at where the smoke was coming from. What in the fresh hell was going on? Chatter and panic started to set in quickly as people feared the inner wall had been breached and that titans had made it into wall Rose. Reiner was the first to move as he sent off a grappling hood and set off. Two flashes of tan followed after him. Alex assumed it was Annie and Bertolt who had been with Reiner before the chaos started. Jean called out but didn't get a response.

"Come on you just gonna stand there?" Alex called out to Jean before she too took off after Reiner. After all she wasn't about to let herself just be left behind like that. The small group moved quickly completely prepaid to leap into battle once they reached the wall. But what they saw once they arrived was not what they expected. They remained standing on the roof looking down at a partial titan that could barely be seen through all the smoke. The steel of burning rotten flesh filled the air as everyone stood frozen looking on in either terror or shock at the sight before them. The small group couldn't do anything other than look on unsure of exactly what they where seeing.

The skeleton of a titan was barely visible from the sizzling smoke of the melting body. It's left arm had been reaching out, it didn't take a rocket scientist to tell the canon fire had been aimed at Eren and he transformed in time to stop it. MP's flanked every side of Eren, Armin and Mikasa. There was no way the trio could make a run for it, Alex hadn't seen them leave the smoke so that meant they where still hidden among the skeleton.

"Damn it we need to help them," she heard Jeans hiss of irritation at being forced to stand back and watch as Armin tried his best tell the army that Eren was useful. Alex quickly reached out to grab his arm as he seemed about to step forward.

"Stop! What good do you think you can do for them? If you go down their now you will be labeled a traitor. We need to think this through carefully. Just wait and watch," she hissed at Jean who looked over at her pissed off, not at all happy she stopped him.

"She's right Jean we can't go rushing in," came the reply from Reiner who remained standing there not taking his eyes off the scene before him. Jean was still irritated but he remained still no longer about to go rushing in and so Alex let go of his arm. All they could do was stand there and watch as Armin emerged from the smoke and started to go off about how Eren could be useless. The group was forced to stand back and do nothing more than watch as Armin tried to plead for their lives. And for a second Alex held her breath as Kitz didn't seem to care for Armin's words and for a split second it looked like the group was about to be executed.

But suddenly someone grabbed Kitz arm, an older bold man. It was commander Pixis who had stopped Kitz. It seemed the older man was farm more willing to hear out the trio and seemed far more calm and collected than all the other solders in the area. And with that Alex turned to start walking away. This grabbed the attention of all the others with her.

"Where are you going?" Jean called out to the blonde.

"They should be safe with Pixis on their side and willing to hear them out. There's no use in sticking around now, we can not do anything at this moment," she said which brought nods from Annie and Reiner who turned to follow her. Bertolt was quick to do the same following his two friends. Leaving Jean to drag his feet behind them as he didn't like leaving but he wasn't about to argue with his firmed who where correct.


	6. Chapter 6

With the worry for their friends on their shoulders the small group returned to the street the solders has been waiting around taking the chance to rest, drink and some even snacked on the crappy food rations they where given. Alex had been sitting down away from everyone as she simply wondered and worried. After all it was hard not to worry about the three people she would like to think of as friends after the last three years they had spent together even if they where not extremely close.

Suddenly she heard someone call out from the top of the wall and Alex stood up to join her fellow comrades as she stood in the middle of the street with the other solders. She looked up at the wall and squinted softly against the sun as she looked up to see Pixis standing on the edge of the wall as he started her to inform the solders beneath him of their new weapon. With wide eyes Alex looked over to see Eren standing saluted beside Pixis. It was hard to believe the plan that Pixi announced. And surely the plan didn't sit well with others and some people where quick to turn tail and start walking away. Alex could hear Klitz threatening to kill the traitors who turned tail and ran. But suddenly Pixis called out all those who wished to return home could. They would not be traitors, but that the lives of their loved ones was on their shoulders. It seemed that his words had enough weight that every person who turned to run stopping in their tracks and instead they turned back around and stood strong refusing to go home and know they may of been able to save life's.

The plan seemed easy enough. Eren was going to turn into a titan and move a large boulder to block the open gate. Meanwhile everyone but a small elite team where to draw as many of the titans to the far corner away from the boulder and off Eren and his team. But surely it wouldn't be that easy, nothing is ever that easy.

"Well Jean we better get moving," Alex hummed as she glanced over at Jean who was looking up at the wall with wide eyes. She reached up and slapped the back of the mans shoulders jogging him from his fear and mind when he didn't reply to her. She would of slapped him over the back of the head but she barely reached.

"Jesus," he mumbled and cursed as she had hit him with enough force he stumbled forwards.

"That's what you get for day dreaming now come on we were given orders to go draw in titans," she said before she took off jogging towards the wall and using her ODM gear to fly up the tall 50 meter wall to bring herself up to the top. Glancing to her left she could see the small elite group of solders with Eren running down the side of the wall.

"Good luck Eren," she mumbled softly to herself as she heard Jean quickly join her along with a hand full of other solders before she took off running down the right side of the wall getting past some of the titans clawing at the wall before she threw herself off the wall and engaged her gear flying through the streets. She purposefully flew in front of the faces of titans drawing their attention in before leading the way back to the wall.

She was elegant moving easily out of titan's grasp as they would reach for her. Training had taught her well but it seemed in the face of death she truly excelled past her level of training. She moved quickly not even caring about how much gas she used up as she was close to the wall and no longer feared running out as she spun and twirled through the sky. Eyes at the top of the wall watched the young woman move swiftly through the streets beneath with titans running after her.

The cries of a solder filled her ears and she changed her path in a split second as solder had been grabbed. The cries and plea’s to live filled the air. Her blades where a flash in the sunlight as she aimed for the elbow of the beast and watched the arm drop to the ground. The solder seemed stunned and surprised to still be alive.

"Move it!" She yelled out as the titan seemed surprised for a second looking down at its missing arm before it started to once again reach for the solder. But now he had regained his senses and the solder took off flying away from the titan. There was no time for thanks as she continued to fly around till a good number of titans had been following her before she once again flew back up to the safety of the wall. She was panting softly as her feet landed on the ground of the safety of the tall wall.

She knocked her knuckles against her gas tank hearing the hollow clank of the nearly empty tank fill her ears as she frowned softly. Damn that had not lasted as long as she had hoped it would. She used to much gas while flying around. She slowly walked along the wall weaving her way between bodies of the garrison regiment who where tending to the canons along wall Rose. She winced softly as a canon she walked past fired off and the noise sent a ringing through her ears but she pushed on walking along the wall till she came to a duo of resupply the resupply team. She slipped her empty gas tanks from her ODM gear and exchanged them for two fresh filled tanks.

As she was changing her tanks she could hear the gasps of the people around her. She turned to look out over Trost to see what they where gasping about. The red smoke in the sky over the setting horizon was the signal that the mission had hit a large issue and most likely had failed. Everyone seemed frozen before the chatter spread that the mission had failed. That was not a good sign and it had people panicking softly. Suddenly Armin took off. Alex followed after him not even hesitating to run after the blonde boy. He wasn't the fastest person so it was easy for the girl to catch up.

"Armin what are you doing?" She asked as she caught up as the boy seemed to be running as fast as he could down the wall.

"I. I do not know," he said stuttering as he ran, "but I have to go help."

Alex couldn't argue as she ran with Armin down the length of the wall as the two pushed on running as fast as they could. Her legs ached and burned as she pushed herself to run keeping up with Armin as they ran till finally the large boulder came into view. Eren in his titan form sat in the ground his head slumped.

"Armin see to Eren I'll keep the titans off of you," Alex called out as the two jumped from the wall and Armin simply nodded his head as he flew towards Eren. Alex landed on the roof of one of the near by buildings as Armin where yelling for Eren. Armin was able to climb onto Eren's back banging at his neck. Titans where pooling into the city. Mikasa was talking to Armin, but Alex didn't stick around as she ran down the roof towards the incoming titans.

There where so many, and the group was so small. How the hell were they going to survive? Alex couldn't deny she had her doubts but that didn't slow her down as she took on Titan after titan. She could hear the screams as the team around her struggled to take on the titans. She saw one solder being held up over the mouth of a titan. She sprung quickly flashing past the back of the titan slicing the nap of the neck out as the titan dropped to the ground. The solder looked surprised at the unfamiliar face. But Alex wasn't about to stick around and have a friendly chat as she struggled to dodge a hand that was swinging at her like she was a fly as a 6 meter titan swung at her.

Taking off she landed on a roof and took off running with the 6 meter titan running after her like a toddler chasing a butterfly as it bounced off of walls the sound of building crashing to the ground told her how far behind the titan was as she ran refusing to look back knowing the titan was not far. Suddenly the scream of a titan filled the air. Now that had her looking back. It sounded like Eren. Did that mean Armin was able to snap Eren out of what ever trance he had been in? Hopefully so but she wasn't gonna circle back to see, not yet. She needed to deal with the titan on her heels before she could head back to try and help. A pillar stuck out among a roof as she ran towards it. She had an idea. She ran past the pillar as she fired a grapple into the pillar and she took a hard turn letting the titan run past the pillar as it expected her to keep running straight. She was not behind it and fired her grapple into the back of its neck and quickly dispatched it.

She stood on the back of the titan before the shaking ground drew her attention. She couldn't see Eren but she could see the large rock being moved over the roof tops. She was away from the action but she could see people flying around and titans no longer after people. Alex was quick to take off towards Eren coming up behind titans that paid her no attention. At least it made it easier to take out titans that didn't notice the one single small solder.

The ground shook when she ran across it before firing off her grapples once again. Eren was nearly at the hole. It was hard not to pause to watch as he let out a scream and then crashed the boulder into the hole sealing up the only way titans could get in. Humanity had finally won. It was a small victory but for the first time in history humanity had finally won a small battle.

Alex had stood on a roof watching as Eren's titan crumple, some people rushed to him. She assumed Armin, Mikasa and another solder. She had been so distracted she didn't even notice the titan that had reached out and grabbed her. She winced at the tight grip. Fuck how could she fuck up so bad. She winched at the pain before she finally sliced through the titans fingers free herself as she took off away from the titan just in time to see a flash of tan and green. She was about to take on the titan when someone beat her to it.

"Yahoo," was the all to joyous cry from a brunette woman as she sliced into the titans nape. That was an all to familiar face that turned to look at her as she landed on a roof. It was Captain Zoe Hange a woman well known for her love of science.

"Here I thought I was offering a hand but it seemed you where able to free yourself," the woman yelled out before letting out a laugh as she stood on the back of the sizzling titans head.

"Thanks," the small blonde called out before she glanced around to take in the sight around her. The scouts had returned and where now offering aid to the group that had been protecting Eren giving everyone a chance to retreat to the safety of the wall.

"We need to fall back and regroup," Hange called out as if to read the girls mind as she had looked around to check on her friend. Eren's titan form was sizzling which must of meant they where able to get the boy free and it was time to head back.

"Yes sir," Alex called out to the brunette who simply flashed her a wide smile before the two quickly parted ways. She would of rather stuck around and continue to fight off titans but her body ached. An entire day of fighting had taken its toll on her body. And that grab left her right side aching with each breath. As her feet landed on the top of the wall her legs gave out and she crumpled to the ground and rolled twice before she pushed herself up to her feet and slipped her blades into their case at her hips. A handful of scouts stood along the wall looking down over the carnage beneath them.

Still moving off of adrenaline she stood up stifling the groan of pain. Suddenly Mikasa, Armin, an unconscious Eren, Rico Brzenska and captain Levi flew up the wall. Forcing her body on Alex trotted over towards the group.

"Armin, Mikasa! How is Eren?" The blonde asked actually concerned for her friend. As she approached the group only to be eyes up by the short dark haired captain. Armin was the first to greet her as he helped hold Eren up with Mikasa.

"Unconscious but alive," he answered her which had the small woman sigh softly happy to hear. But before Alex could ask more and chat with her friends the scouts where quick to close in and take Eren from Armin and Mikasa. There was nothing the three could do as Armin and Alex held back a pissed for Mikasa who wasn't happy about handing Eren over but after words from Armin she settled down and the two could let go.

"Come on Mikasa let's head back, Eren is going to need your help we need to get back and prepare for the storm to come," Alex said softly as she turned to head back to wall Rose hoping the other woman would follow her which she did and the three headed back to the safety of wall Rose where they could get medical care, food and water.


	7. Chapter 7

Once the trio had returned to the other side of wall Rose Alex found herself dragged off to the first aid station that had been set up along the wall to help the injured soldiers. It seemed Armin's eyes were sharp to notice the way Alex was favouring her right side on their walk back along the wall. It was a bit of a wait though for someone to see her as she wasn't actually in life threatening shape. She doubted she broke anything but that didn't mean she didn't still hurt. To her surprise she ended up with a guest as she waited in the medic table as she sat in a chair.

"Hey there!" Came a joyous greeting forcing the small blonde to look up at a familiar face.

"Oh section captain," Alex said softly looking up at the woman. Alex recognized the oddball woman as one of the squad captains in charge of scientific knowledge of titans.

"What can I do for you?" Alex asked arching an eyebrow at the older woman standing before her.

"Ah yes I came here to chat with you. As I'm sure you're aware the Scouts want to take charge of Eren Yeager," she said as she stood in front of the small blonde.

"Yes I had a feeling that the outcome of Eren not being killed off. But what does that have to do with me?" The blonde asked with a tilt of her head.

"Ah yes, I saw a bit of your fighting at the end earlier. You're skilled and have lots of room for improvement. I'd like to ask you to join the scouts?" She asked pausing to see if the blonde instantly refused. Alex sat back in her seat not going to run off from the request.

"I planned to join the scouts either way, but still why come all the way down here to see me?" She asked suspicion as to why the woman had come all the way to the medic tent.

"You have a sharp eye. I'm aware that you are familiar with Eren Yeager. Even a friend of his is that correct?" She asked waiting for a nod from the blonde before she continued, "if Eren is handed over to the scouts I would like someone to keep an eye on him and track his daily life as I can not be around for everything."

"So you want me to keep an extra eye on Eren and document him while he trains?" She asked, ensuring she had understood everything. To which Hange nodded her head. Suddenly the brunette started to drool and a blush covered her cheeks.

"Yes I want you to document everything, how he trains, what he eats. I want to know everything about him and also his titan side," she said before starting to ramble off about how fascinating it would be to watch the kid 24/7. The blonde pondered the idea. It was a commendation into the scouts, something that would get her in right away.

"Alright I will do it, if Eren lives," she mumbled the last part to herself. Hange squealed, taking the woman's hands in hers as she seemed to be shaking with excitement. As the woman started to go off rambling.

"Alright I will run it past Erwin and I'll talk to you in a few days," Hange said before waving at the girl and leaving. Alex watched her leave before pondering if what she had agreed to was a good idea. But she had agreed and now it was a waiting game to see what would happen to Eren.

With her rips bandaged with a suspected fracture she was warned to take a few days off to recover and take training light for a week. With her wounds all cleaned and bandages she left the medic tent well into the night now as she made her way back to the barracked as she yawned softly. Her roommate was not around when she returned to her room, she wasn't sure if her roommate was even alive but she didn't care to ponder the idea, it would only make her upset. She stripped her clothes and crawled into the bed. She would bathe in the morning, right now she was too exhausted.

Once the morning rolled around she made her way to the shared bath and cleaned up before putting on a clean uniform and heading down to the mess hall. Grabbing a bowl of porridge she glanced out over the tables before she spotted Armin and Mikasa. She walked over to sit beside Mikasa.

"Good morning Alex how are you feeling today?" Armin asked as he greeted the small woman.

"Good morning Armin, Mikasa. I'm a bit sore still and may have fractured a rib but I'm alive," she said softly as she sat down to start eating her first meal in the last twenty four hours. The trio fell silent after that. None seeming to dare speak as they eat. But it wasn't like they could talk about much of what weighed on their minds. Bringing up Eren and his titan would cause an uproar in the mess hall surely. And it's not like the three had much else to talk about at the moment, or more so didn't have anything they wanted to talk about.

The silence didn't last the entire meal and Armin and Mikasa finished eating. It was finally mentioned Eren and his chance he may not survive since they had not seen him for the last day. Mikasa was quick to jump to her feet yelling out when suddenly the main door to the mess hall flew open and an MP strolled in.

"Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert, Alexandra Racher. Hop too," the MP called out as the three turned to look at him.

"Sir?" Mikasa called out in a questioning tone.

"You're ordered to attend and act as witnesses at today's elaboration," was the reason they were given before the three were led out of the mess hall and escorted to the court house where they were seated off to the side watching as a handcuffed Eren was tossed into the large room. A large metal beam was dropped over the cuffs locking Eren on his knees for the judgement for his court case. Alex sat to Mikasa left while Armin was to her right. Alex watched Eren as he looked over at the three with wide eyes seemingly surprised that three of his friends had been dragged along.

Alex wasn't really interested in the logistics of the case. It sounded like just back and forth between the scouts and MP's over what was to happen with Eren. Of course there were those who were scared of Eren’s powers and wanted him a put down like he was some ravenous animal. While the scouts saw potential in what Eren could become as a weapon to them. At some point Mikasa and Eren’s past was brought up. Alex arched an eyebrow as she glanced over at the woman beside her as her terrible past was brought up. Alex never knew the two had to defend themselves as kids and killed three people. Well that explained about how Mikasa was such a cold person on the battlefield.

Suddenly someone pointed out that Mikasa could be a traitor too and she should be killed. Now that triggered Eren as he started to claim she was innocent, and then started to spew about how those who are scared should leave it to him to keep them safe. To be honest she agreed with Eren. The MP's were useless and had never seen a real titan nor had they ever engaged in a real battle with the beasts. But calling them out on it may not have been the best idea as the action got a gun aimed at him.

But before it could be fired captain Levi had suddenly appeared in front of Eren and in a blink of an eye he had slammed his toe of his right boot into the kiss face. The captain had kicked Eren so hard a tooth had gone flying across the floor. And the assault didn't end there. Mikasa was completely pissed as she watched the short captain beating the shit out of Eren. Armin grabbed her right arm and Alex had grabbed her left. It wouldn't do them or Eren any good if Mikasa jumped in to stop Levi, hell it would probably get them all in trouble. Though Mikasa didn't move her body still shook with anger as she glared daggers at the small captain. Finally one of the MP's spoke out causing Levi to stop for a second to look up at the MP before continuing the beating.

Eren took his beating rather well as his blood covered the floor beneath his face as Levi's boot kept Erens poor beaten face crushed in the floor. But it seemed that the actions got the point across Levi could deal with Eren and could kill him if he had to. Which was the perfect evidence that Eren needed to keep his life. It sucked for him to take such a rough beating but there was truly no other option for the kid. And it seemed Levi's plan worked in Eren's favour extremely well as the judge put Eren into the scouts' custody as long as Eren is monitored at all times by Levi and that if he loses control he is to be executed on the spot.

Alex watched Eren be dragged out of the courtroom before everyone else was dismissed. Alex was following behind Mikasa and Armin before a familiar voice called out to her. All three paused as Armin and Mikasa looked surprised at the small blonde as Hange was waving her down.

"I have something I have to deal with, go ahead without me," she said watching the skeptical look on Armin's face and as always Mikasa looked blank and emotionless. She turned to look over at Hange who was walking up to her.

"What can I do for you Hange?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

"I need you to come with me for a bit. It's nothing bad don't worry," Hange answered as Alex nodded and turned to follow after the older woman as she led the way to a room in the back of the courthouse.

She paused for a second as they came to a back room that Hange just walked right into without even knocking.

"I'm here so let's get this party started," she said with a good laugh. Alex hesitated for a second as she noticed who was all in the room. Commander Erwin, Eren, Mike and captain Levi had already been standing or sitting among the room slightly spread out.

"Alex?" Eren called out surprised to see the blonde trailing the brunette.

"Hey Eren," she said softly, giving the man a soft wave. He looked like he wanted to ask her some more questions but Erwins voice called out.

"Hange is this the kid you were talking about?" Erwin called out as he looked over at the two women. Hange was quick to wrap an arm over the smaller girls shoulders as she smiled widely at her friend and commander.

"That's right, she is the one who I saw fighting yesterday. She's also promised to help me with my research," she said as she walked into the room dragging the girl with her who looked less than pleased but didn't argue. Eren just looked confused having been left out of the conversation and knowledge of the information they were talking about.

Now all eyes had turned to look at the blonde woman. She shifted her weight from one heel to the other softly under all the gazes. But she kept her gaze on Erwin as he stepped towards her.

"So Hange told me you agreed to help her out on her research with cadet Eren Yaeger. Is that correct?" He asked looking down at the young girl. She instantly saluted him as she answered his question.

"Yes Sir! I have agreed to help section caption Hange in her research of Eren Yaeger while she had not keep an eye on him," she called out as she stood firm and solid before the man who saved her life. Though she couldn't deny she was extremely happy to stand before the man. She wanted to thank him for his help all those years ago. But she bit her tongue well aware that now was not the time for such actions. Erwin gave her a simple nod of his head with a soft look in his eyes. She doubted he recognized her, after all who would remember some stupid kid five years ago.

"Alright. You will be joining the Levi squad with Eren for the time being then," Erwin called out before Alex glanced over at the short caption who looked stoic. His grey eyes a sliver as he leaned back against the wall of the room watching the group before him. But he didn't argue most likely having already had the discussion with Erwin earlier and the matter had been settled already. Alex turned her gaze back to Erwin and softly nodded her head in understanding.

"Hange will you clean Eren's wounds?" Erwin asked the subject suddenly being changed as he turned his blue eyes over to his comrade who seemed to suddenly be holding a first aid kit. Alex softly arched an eyebrow as she stopped saluting and watched Hange walk over to Eren and started to dampen a cotton ball and started to dab the alcohol mixture onto the wounds which caused the kid to hiss at the pain and wince softly.

"Man, talk about harsh. I bet it hurts," Hange said as she tended to Eren's face.

"A little," Eren mumbled holding a cold rag to his sore face.

"So how exactly does it feel?" She asked her voice, stuttering softly as she started to become excited about the fact that she was able to learn something from Eren. He seemed like such a normal person in that moment as he winced at the pain and clearly he was hurting a bit.

Erwin walked up to Eren apologizing for the rough treatment but it was needed to be able to win over the judge. He offered his hand to Eren who was quick to shake it as Levi walked over to sit on the couch beside the kid. Eren seemed genially nervous with the captain beside him.

"Tell me Eren! Do you resent me?" Levi asked as he sat back on the couch and swung his right leg over his left.

"Huh! Oh uhm no. I understand it was a necessity," was the stuttered reply that came from the kid. Alex almost wanted to laugh, he may not have been mad at Levi for his actions but Eren was clearly nervous about getting his ass beat again so bad. Levi answered with a simple good which brought on Hange's scolding for how hard Levi had been on the kid and how a tooth had even been knocked out. Hange even made the comment that she had picked up the tooth even. What an odd ball woman she was as she didn't seem to be grossed out with the thought of having a tooth in her pocket.

"Hey Eren let me see into your mouth?" She asked though it sounded a bit more like a demand to which Eren did not argue with as he opened his mouth for the woman. To which she paused and looked extremely surprised. Alex curious herself as to what was up, she stepped forward and peered over Hanges shoulder to see a perfect set of teeth.

"Your tooth, it grew back!" Hange said completely surprised to see Eren had regenerated the tooth Levi had kicked out. It seemed to surprise everyone, even Eren to find out his body was able to regenerate any part of him that seemed cut off from his main body and in a record time as well.


	8. Chapter 8

With Eren's wounds cleaned he was hauled back to the dungeon of the courthouse. And Alex was informed to head back to her barracks and gather her stuff and prepare to leave early the next morning. And that's what she did.

She had no personal objects herself. Just a couple of uniforms. It wasn't hard for her to fill a simple large bag with her clothes and she was ready to go. She really didn't need the entire day to pack like she had been given. But still she took the evening to simply walk around the streets. Soldiers were still working hard to remove the remaining titans and to start sorting and dealing with the dead. The air was filled with the stench of burning flesh as bodies seemed to be consistently being cremated and burned over on the other side of the wall. But that didn't stop the breeze carrying the stench with it.

She walked till the sun had set and she found the streets dark and empty. The stench in the air had killed her appetite, and so she found herself missing dinner before she finally forged her tired and still sore body back to the barracks to the empty and quiet room she had called home for the last few nights.

Still she had not seen her roommate in days, but she ignored the thought not wanting to be drawn into the sadness of just how many people she knew would never be seen again. Stripping out of her uniform she tossed herself onto the hard mat of a bed. To be honest she contemplated sleeping outside in the ground; it may have been softer to sleep on. But her body was too tired to get up and move even if she wanted to. She fell asleep fast enough but it seemed remaining asleep was another issue. She woke a few times during the middle of the night. Finally a little after 4am she no longer could keep herself asleep. She got up; decided to bath and get herself dressed for the day. By 5 am she slipped into the mess hall to grab herself a loaf of bread for breakfast before she found herself walking towards the stable. There was still almost two hours before the team was expected to meet up at the stables. And yet here she was early with her bag in hand.

She wasn't sure what to do with herself as she waited and so she found herself cleaning and oiling the tack that the team would be using. It at least gave her something to do. Often a part of a punishment she somehow found it soothing to sit in the stable, a cloth in hand as she slowly worked her way through cleaning and oiling all the bridles and saddles the team would use. About half an hour before seven she had pulled out the horses the team would be taking, brushed and tacked them as the cadet on stable duty had finished feeding them. She almost didn't even notice the time as the sun had risen and the hours had ticked on bye till a voice suddenly called out to her.

"Hey Alex," the voice was one she had grown incredibly familiar with, after all the idiot was hard to miss. Turning from her own horse she looked over to see Eren waving at her surrounded by the elite Levi squad.

"Oh hello good morning Eren," she returned the greeting before glancing over at the captain who looked as cold as ever. No one else in the group bothered to greet her. But she didn't mind, after all she couldn't blame them. Though she had been hand picked by Hange, to them she was simply a burden added on that they would have to babysit. Or so Alex assumed that's how the team viewed her. Eren on the other hand seemed extremely happy and grateful for the familiar and much warmer face. After all Alex couldn't bring herself to hate the boy, she may have hated titans. But at the end of the day Eren was still the idiot she knew who jumped into situations without thinking and often needed to be bailed out by those around him. Nothing about him had changed, not in her eyes at least.

"Since everyone is here, mount up," was the order that came from Levi which everyone nodded and answered with a simultaneous yes sir. Alex gave her tack and horse one last check over. She was incredibly short compared to the large horse before her. Damn stable staff didn't assign her something smaller. Oh well.

"Alex do you need a hand?" Eren asked being the nice guy he often was to those he saw as friends.

"No it's okay," she answered as she stood by the horse's front shoulder facing the back of the horse with her left hand on the saddle. She could see the skeptical and unsure look on Eren's face as he watched her. With one single stride along the side of the horse she jumped forwards pushing herself off the ground and into the air along the side of her horse. Swinging her right leg over the back of the horse's rump she was able to pull herself forwards and into the saddle. Eren seemed surprised to see the small girl able to jump high enough to get herself over the horses back. She leaned down to reach for her bag but Eren was too quick as he grabbed it and offered it to her.

"Thanks," she said as she took the bag and swung it over her right shoulder so the strap went over her torso and down to her left hip.

Levi had been standing back at his own horse having watched the girl mount on her own even though the horse she was given was no small animal. He had also noticed that all the tack on the horses had been freshly clean. The stable hands rarely cleaned the tack, it was often a form of punishment for minor things. He wasn't aware of anyone being punished. Which meant someone went out of there way to clean the tack before the team arrived.

With everyone mounted and ready to go Levi led the way as the team started to leave the city and the team fell into order. Oluo, Eld and Gunther led the way. Then Eren was placed in the middle with Alex behind him and trailing the group was Levi and Petra. As the horses walked Alex took this moment to drop her reins on her horses neck and pull out a leather backed journal Hange had given her the day before and a pencil. To be honest Alex could see why Hange picked her for the job. Surely the woman had read the cadets file. She was often thought of as being shy or off putting as she would keep to herself every chance she could. But anyone who truly watched the blonde could see she simply put up walls and tried to keep people away not wanting to get too attached, she was all too well aware of how short their lifespans where expected to be. And so to protect herself she refused to let people in to close. But while that was said the girl was never mean to people. Which made her good for the job Hange wanted. She was less biased than Armin or Mikasa or even some of the other cadets. But she was still a familiar face to Eren so he would not act differently around her. It was easy to see that Hange had made a logical choice. Whether or not Levi and his team thought so was a different matter. But Alex tried not to ponder over the team and their opinion of her. Instead she took the time during the ride to start jolting down her thoughts and opinions of Eren at that moment.

The rocking of the horse made it a bit hard to keep her hand steady as she wrote but she didn't care she could still read her own writing and that's all that mattered to her. She never even noticed that Eren had slowed down a little to pull up to her left side.

"Alex?" He called out to her, surprising her a little as she looked up from the journal before noticing him and she closed it.

"Sorry! What did you need Eren?" She asked as she slipped the journal and pencil into her bag and turned her attention to Eren.

"I heard Hange hand picked you to keep an eye on me. Is that true?" He asked, seeming curious as to if there was a different reason that his comrade had been dragged alone with him.

"It is. She claims to have watched me during the battle of Trost while you were moving the boulder. I was there with Armin and Mikasa. Though I am not here to be your executioner like everyone else. I am simple here to watch and document nothing more," she answered as the two rode side by side not exactly sure where they were going but neither was going to ask yet either.

"Wait you were there when I was a titan at Trost?" Eren seemed shocked to learn that like Armin and Mikasa she had been witness to Eren blocking the hole and keeping the titans from advancing into wall Rose. Alex wasn't surprised he didn't know she was there. After all he spent the last few days locked up and probably had never been fully told about what happened.

"Yeah. I saw Armin take off when the red smoke signal was fired off. I don't know why but I took off after him. I ended up tagging alone though I got busy fighting titans and ended up slightly away from the action but still I watched you carry that large boulder," she answered a still surprising looking Eren. Suddenly an old looking castle came into view and the two kids turned their attention to look over at the castle. Oluo slowed his pace pulling up towards Eren's left side.

"The old scout regiment headquarters. Just as you'd expect from an old renovated castle. It looks fancy and all that sort of thing. But being so far from the wall and the river makes it an inconvenience," Oluo just rattled on to the two kids who had not at all said or asked a thing about the castle; though that didn't seem to matter to the older soldier. Oluo proceeded to talk and leaned in towards Eren seemingly trying to intimidate him. Though that attempt was wasted as the man ended up biting his own tongue hard while riding. Now that was its own special stupid talent to nearly bite ones tongue off while riding and talking. They were only walking and yet the man couldn't keep himself from biting his own tongue. It made it hard for the blonde to take him seriously. And it wasn't for the man's known record of kills and assists she would struggle to wonder why captain Levi kept around an idiot like that. But then again maybe it was all a ploy to her one to lower their guard around him? Either way Alex still wasn't sure what to make of the members of Levi's elite team. The group walked into the main front grounds of the castle and everyone proceeded to dismount from their horses.

"Racher you're on stable duty. Untack and put the horses away!" Levi called out to the young cadet. She was a bit surprised to hear him finally talk to her as she got stuck with caring for the horses as everyone else started towards the castle.

"Hold on a minute!" Eren yelled out at Levi only to stop as Alex grabbed his upper arm stopping him.

"Don't worry about it Eren," she said softly as she gave him a small warm smile. She truly didn't mind. At this rate she felt the horses would offer up warmer company than the team would to her.

"Head inside and I'll be in a bit," she said when Eren looked unsure and wanted to say something back to her.

"Oi, brat hurry up inside I do not have all day!" Levi called out glaring at Eren as Alex let go and turned back to the group of horses that were standing patiently to be untacked. She could finally hear Eren's boots against the ground as he turned and hurried after Levi's squad who had stopped to wait for the kid to catch up before they walked into the castle. Alex untacked each horse, brushed them out and proceeded to stable them before feeding the horses some hay and grain before she finally walked towards the castle. The team spread out and were cleaning the dusty and uninhabited castle.

The team seemed accustomed to Levi's demands for cleanliness as they worked hard. She entered the front of the castle before spotting the captain in question, a white cloth tied over his nose.

"About time. Head upstairs and help Yaeger clean," he told her as he spotted the blonde.

"Yes sir!" She said with a quick salute before jogging off to head upstairs and look for Eren. She found the brunette boy in a room as he was running a rag over an old desk.

"You must not be good at cleaning Levi sent me up to clean after you," she called out as she stood in the doorway of the room. Her voice was playful and her words seemed to make the boy relax as he turned to smile at the girl.

"Oh haha that's real funny," he said sarcastically which in turn truly made the girl laugh as she walked in pulling a white strip of material from her pocket before she too tied it around her race. She spotted a variety of cleaning supplies on the floor as she walked over to grab a cloth and some cleaner before she started to wash a window. The room had fallen silent for at least a few minutes but it didn't last long before Eren spoke up.

"I don't like the way they treat you," he said softly though his voice is hard. Even Eren had noticed the way the team glanced at her, ignored her, and would mumble about her.

"Don't let it bother you. I do not blame them. I'm here on Hange's recommendation. I'm not a hand picked Levi solder like they are, they also have no idea of what my abilities are. To them I am a simple kid they are stuck babysitting. On top of having to keep an eye on you as well. Give them some time and let the stress taper out," she answered as she cleaned. Eren didn't seem to be impressed with her answer. But it was a logical one even if she herself didn't like it either. But she was aware that to the team she was an extra pain and stress on top of having to deal with Eren.

"Don't worry about me Eren. But if I need your help with anything I'll let you know," she said lightly as she looked over at him with soft eyes and a smile under the cloth. Eren seemed to blush suddenly as he glanced away at the girl.

"Fine but I still don't like it," he mumbled but that was good enough for Alex. It was rather odd to her to see him upset about her. After all he barely knew her even if they had spent the last three years training together.


	9. Chapter 9

The team spent the day cleaning the entire castle indoors and out till the sun had set. It was nice to finally be able to break for dinner. The small group gathered around a large table sipping at a simple soup with a bun. The group had remained rather quiet as they are. But Alex didn't mind silence was often a friend of hers. The day had gone by rather quickly with the task of cleaning and the small chat her and Eren had shared. She probably had never spoken so much to him in all the three years of training together as they did this day. She could also see why Levi had her cleaning with Eren the kid didn't clean the best. 

Alex didn't mind cleaning up after him through out the day. He was actual decent company as well. Though as she was washing the floor her ribs had not liked the way she was running around. And it seemed Eren had noticed asking her a couple times during the day how she felt. Even now her ribs ached softly but she ignored the dull pain, after all it was more annoying than painful at the moment. She finished her meal and was about to stand up to take her bowl away when Eren jumped to his feet scooping her bowl up and running off with it. Eren didn't say a word as he rushed off with her dishes leaving her to glare at his back and he could feel the irritation as she watched him run off. Everyone else sitting at the table had seen the event unfold. Some smirked, another giggled softly, one glared, and others seemed to not care. She sighed softly knowing that surely nothing she said to the group would change the assumptions and thoughts they had. She waited till Eren was running back towards the table to sit back down. With her right arm she aimed well and with good power she throw her elbow back catching the boy hard in the lower gut. He seemed to loose his breath and doubled over in pain. 

"What the hell?" He wheezed out as he struggled to catch his breath as he held his stomach. 

"I don't recall needing your help," she hissed softly. Tossing a glare over her shoulder at the kid. Some seemed surprised by her action as she didn't fear Eren. Eren seemed to recover faster than the group watching them. 

"Geez I was just trying to be nice. I noticed your ribs bugging you," he said softly as he straightened up and walked back to his seat beside her. Shooting her a hard glare for a second as he rubbed his stomach. Alex huffed softly and shifted in her seat, he wasn't wrong that her ribs where still sore but she had not noticed that Eren had been able to notice it was still bothering her.

"Just cause I'm older than you doesn't mean you gotta treat me like an old lady," she huffed as she glared over at him. Eren seemed surprised that she knew his age or had a good enough guess at it to know she was older than he was. 

"Huh no way your older than me?" He asked surprise at the woman's words. 

"Yeah. I'm already 18," she answered surprised to see the shock on Eren's face learning the girl was 3 years older than him even though she looked much more like a 14 year old than an adult. Before Eren could say something and recover from his shock there was a bang on the door to the room they where eating in, sounded like someone had ran into the door that had been locked up. Petra jumped to her feet to let Hange into the make shift mess hall.

"Good evening, members of the Levi squad!" Hange called out as the door opened and she was softly rubbing her forehead. Yep the woman ran into the door assuming it was opened. Straightening up quickly she gave a friendly wave before continuing her small chat, "How is castle life treating you?"

"You're early," was the simple reply that Levi gave the woman as he picked up his cup of tea.

"I just couldn't help myself!" She said as she started to walk up to Eren who turned towards the brunette nutcase.

"Section commander Hange," was the whispered surprised words from Eren who seemed surprised to see the woman. Alex wasn't shocked. If the brunette had her way they would probably poke and pester Eren every minute of the day if she could. But her own work kept her busy forcing her only to be able to come and visit for short bursts of time.

"Sorry for the wait Eren. I'm actually in charge of examining the two titans we caught. I'd like you to help with my experiments tomorrow," she said to Eren who was rather surprised and looked to Levi. Aside from menial stupid tasks the team really didn't have anything better to do. Keeping the two new cadets out of trouble was pretty much Levi's main job at the moment. It probably didn't help Eren's case that Levi probably couldn't refuse Hange's request even if he wanted to. And so Eren would be stuck with the woman tomorrow. It seemed at one point Eren made the mistake of asking Hange about titans and her work. This spirals the woman into a little frenzy as she started off about the two titans they had captured and she was testing on. It seemed the second that started the table cleared in an instant. Seemed no one at all had any desire to stick around and listen to the woman go off. Alex may not of admitted it but learning more about the titans was truly interesting to her. 

Alex may of hated the beings with every part of her soul. But she was also a firm believer that the more you know about the enemy the better off you are in battle. And so she sat back and listened to Hange raving about what she learned from the two titans she had in her custody. Though neither Alex or Eren was aware of what they had gotten themselves into when they decided to sit there and listen to Hange. What started out as a little after supper entertainment turned to midnight, then 3am, and the next thing the two cadets knew the sun had broke over the horizon and the squad calling the castle home where starting to get up and become active. Hange was still going strong. How the hell did the woman have the energy to be so energetic even after an all nighter? Was she on something? Alex and Eren had tried to get away a couple times but the woman would not let them go. Alex could understand why everyone ran off when they did. By the morning Eren and Alex both surely looked like shit not use to the late night with no sleep. Alex felt her head nod as she nearly passed out sitting up. Softly leaning into Eren to help keep her from falling over. Suddenly the door slammed opened. The loud bang jolted Alex awake as a random unknown scout rushed into the room looking for Hange. 

"Section commander Hange. The test subjects, both of them have been killed!" He yelled out to the woman. A full blown panic seemed to set in as everyone jumped to their feet and rushed out to the stables wasting no time in racking up the horses and quickly mounting to take off back to the city. Levi's squad had even heard the commotion and where already out of the castle by the time Hange and the two cadets rushed out. Once mounted they took off back to the city at a full gallop with Hange in the lead. She truly looked devistated as they came in to where the research team had been containing the two titans only to find the burning, sizzling bodies that remained. Jumping from the horses Alex trotted after Eren. People where starting to gather, Alex reached over and flipped the hood of Eren's cloak he was wearing. He glanced over at her an eye brow raised curious why she had done its.

"We don't need anyone recognizing you right now," she hissed softly as she walked beside him as they approached the crowd and found themselves standing their like everyone else. Hange wailed as if they where her own children. Mutters could be heard through the crowds. Some where happy the titan's where killed. Others pointed out how useful the titans could have been as test subjects. Captain Levi stood to Eren's left while Alex stood to his right. 

"How did this happen?" Was the soft stuttered question that came from Eren as he watched the scene before him.

"Let it go, this is a matter for the military police," Levi said as he turned ready to head back to the horses. 

"Yes sir," both kids mumbled before looking back at Hange and the titan bodies. It was still hard to believe someone had killed the two test subjects. Soft footsteps approached the two. A head slipped in between then both and a all to familiar voice filled both their ears just barely loud enough for the two cadets to hear him. 

"What is it you think you see? Who do you think the real enemy is here?" It was Commander Erwin standing behind the two young solders. What did she see? She saw two test subjects dead. But why? Sure people hated the titans was it completely out of spite? No surely it wasn't that simple of an explanation. No someone went through great detail to kill them and get away. This was a well planned attack, not some spur of the moment out of rage or anger thing. Which meant someone wanted the titans dead. Why? Well why else kill someone or something unless your trying to hide something. Someone didn't want the scouts to learn more about the titans was the first thing that ran through the blondes head. 

Erwin was sure he could see the cogs moving in her head as she thought hard about it. Eren on the other hand seemed confused not completely understanding the older mans words. Suddenly the kids eyes widened, it seemed Eren finally understood that Erwin was hinting at the fact that they may have a traitor within their ranks. Seeing now that his words had the two thinking he quickly covered his ass. 

"Ignore me. Loaded question!" he said as he closed his eyes for a second before leaning back and away from the two young solders. Eren turned slightly to watch with wide eyes at the commander. Alex was wondering why he had asked them that question? Clearly Erwin suspected that there was someone in his scouts or maybe one of the other regiments that was aiding the titans. If that was even close to the truth why ask two kids about it? Alex raised her right hand to rub her temples. She did not get enough sleep to be able to think so hard this morning. Eren watched as Erwin walked towards Levi who had been standing there waiting for Erwin before the duo turned and started to walk away leaving a shocked Eren standing there with wide eyes still seemingly trying to comprehend everything he had heard, learned and tried to think of. 

"Come on," Alex said softly nudging Eren to lead him away from the scene and back to the horses. The squad had been watching them waiting for the two cadets to move before they too started to follow after their captain. Everyone seemed to move a bit slower this time as they mounted their horses and started back to the castle they where currently calling home. 

A day or two would be needed for the new cadets and their gear to be checked out before the recruiting ceremonies could start. Everything had been pushed back thanks to the attack, the clean up and now the murder of the two titan test subjects. But it wasn't like anyone could do anything about it. Once back Alex was left to untack the horses and tend to them. Eren seemed determined to help her and argued when she refused. In the end she gave up and just let him help as he would grab each heavy saddle not giving her the chance too. The brunette made it clear that he wouldn't take no for an answer and would do what he wanted. So she may as well save her breath. 

"What do you think commander Erwin meant earlier?" Eren asked finally breaking the silence as they each stood at a side of a horse running a soft comb over the body of the large animals. 

"I think he was the same suspicions I do. Someone killed those titan's for a reason. What the reason exactly is I do not know but I bet it's because they don't want us to learn something or maybe anything about the titan's. And that someone is in the military," she answered bluntly. Eren softly nodded his head taking in her words.

"I was thinking the same thing," he said softly though not admitting that he never suspected a fellow solder to be the killers. Once again a silence fell over the two as they brushed the horses out. Alex was still mulling over the question and still about why? What could someone feel the need to hide so bad they would risk being caught killing Sawney and Bean? Both solders had been deep in thought before Alex realized she had been brushing the same spot on the horse for a while now. She stopped and put the brush down before grabbing the horses lead and leading it away. It seemed Eren had barely noticed the movement before it pulled him from his own mind and he was quick to do the same thing and put away the horse he had in front of him. Alex grabbed some hay as Eren grabbed some buckets of grain. 

"Well at least Hange shouldn't be experimenting on you're ass today," Alex said lightly flashing a smile over at the brunette as she tried to lighten the mood as the two fed the horses. 

"Yeah your right," was the light chuckled response she got from Eren for the playful comment.


	10. Chapter 10

As expected the team hiding out in the castle didn't see Hange for the day like they thought they would before the murder of the two titans. And well that made the days boring, there was honestly nothing to do but clean. And the duo started cleaning even before the Captain told them to. It even seemed to surprise one or two of their teammates as well when the two young cadets went from putting away horses to cleaning the courtyard as the day went on. After all boredom wouldn't be fun and Alex was sure that captain Levi wouldn't let them just sit around bored anyways. It only made sense to try and remain on the small captain's good side. 

And oddly, Alex found herself getting along well with her younger teammate as they cleaned. She still had to run after him and ensure the job was done completely and well enough but she didn't mind. She had to spend the time with him anyways making mental notes of what he did during the day. And well she may not have admitted it but it was incredibly reassuring to see Eren was still just so normal. Nothing had apparently changed. He was still the reckless idiot from their training days. He never stopped to contemplate his actions, still didn't and his strong sense of revenge still remained his driving force. 

He didn't seem to have any attempts to kill those directly around him like the MP's had feared. He was still just an immature kid who ended up different then those around him, and people always fear what they don't know and what is different. Finally the evening came and went and after supper she parted ways from the team. Alex had yet to actually get any sleep in the last two days and her body was exhausted. But she wanted to fill in as much of the journal of Eren for the day that she could. Otherwise she risked losing small details. Her bedroom that she got all to herself was rather good sized for just little ole her. A single bed with a chest at the foot of it and a desk along the opposite corner where all the room contained but was also all the woman needed as well. With a candle light she sat at the desk filling out and recalling as much of the day as she could jotting down every thing that came to mind. It was shorter and more to the point than her other days. At some point while writing she had found herself with her arms crossed over the desk and her head resting on her arms as she slept. She had not at all expected to pass out at the desk. But the action shouldn't have been surprising. 

No, what was surpassing was the fact that when she awoke in the morning the candle had not melted away to nothing, someone had blown it out and a blanket had been tossed over her shoulders and pulled around her. But who had come into her room last night? Was it Eren? No he was locked up in the basement dungeon at night preventing him from any chance of leaving or walking around during the night. So then that just left her fellow team mates. The first one to come to mind was Petra the girl was probably the nicest person on the team and seemed kind. Alex would have to remember to thank her at breakfast or when ever she could. Sitting up she stretched out slowly listening to her body crack and pop as she forced her stiff body to move. She let out a soft groan sleeping at her desk and was not comfortable. Forcing herself to her feet she changed into some clean clothes and brushed her hair leaving it down for once as she headed to the mess hall for some breakfast with the team. 

Alex never did get a chance to thank Petra at breakfast, seemed the blonde had slept in a bit and missed eating with everyone else. And so she found herself outside at the stables starting to feed the horses for the morning without a word to the other woman. Eren was once again adamant that he had to help her. But this time she didn't argue, it wasn't worth her breath as she'd have to knock the idiot out to keep him from helping her. She assumed he was clinging to her so much due to the fact that the team made it clear they didn't trust him. They often kept their distance and treated him much more like a dangerous animal than a person. Where she didn't, she treated him the same as she did in their training days. If anything she was more friendly with him now than she had ever been. As Alex and Eren fed the horses Gunther and Eld stood back watching chatting among themselves. 

"Eren, Alex. Do you know anyone thinking of joining the scout?" Gunther suddenly called out to the two. Both paused for a second sharing a glance before thinking over their answer. 

"There were," Alex answers before Eren continued her exact train of thought. 

"Or at least there was but I don't know any more," Eren followed up taking the words right out of her mouth but then it got her thinking. Jean and Annie were probably gonna join the MP's like they had both bragged about. Mikasa was a no brainer, she would find a way to join Eren and she wouldn't hesitate to become a scout to be able to stand by his side. And Armin was sure to follow Mikasa, his sense of friendship too high to allow him to join a different regiment. Though that brain of his could easily get him raised through the ranks in the MP or the Garrison regiment. But there's no way Armin would sit back hiding behind the wall all the while knowing his friends were outside it fighting. But what about the others? Alex could remember Connies saying he would join the scouts when they were cleaning canon's. But after seeing the death, destruction and fear of a titan would he still join? Alex couldn't deny she didn't think his resolve was that good. Aside from Armin and Mikasa she didn't think anyone else had the resolve to push on and be a scout after what they had experienced. 

But before Alex could think over the question any longer the sound of thundering hooves brought her attention up to see Levi riding over. Gunther and Eld jumped to their feet and all 4 soldiers saluted their captain as he wasted no time barking the order to get ready as they were going on patrol. 

"Yes sir!" Was the unison reply all four gave the captain.

"Good morning sir," was the greeting Eren called after the simple yes sir. Alex didn't greet the captain with anything other than a yes sir. Though she couldn’t deny she was happy and a bit excited to finally be doing something related to being a scout. They hadn’t even had a training session since they arrived. She felt more like the captain was making the two cadets his maids. Levi turned his hard gaze over the young man warning Eren not to fall behind while they head out. It didn’t seem to matter what Alex did as Levi didn’t give her any warning like Eren. In some ways the blonde wondered if the captain disliked her? He never seemed to speak to her unless it was an order. Then again could she blame him? He had not chosen to have her on his squad; she was pushed on him by Hange. That only drove her to show him that she was not useless or a burden to the team. 

The team was mounted and ready to go in a matter of minutes as they rode out following their captain. The small group didn’t contain the entire team but really it probably didn’t need the entire team. Alex pondered if it may be a test for either of them. Levi may have simply been trying to see if the two could follow orders or not for all she knew. But she kept her mouth shut and rode beside Eren as Levi led the way and Eld and Gunther trailed. The sound of hooves beating the ground as the horses loped was all that she heard as she rode. 

Alex sighed once they returned back to the castle after what was a glorified ride around the countryside. So much for getting a taste of being a scout. She had full hearted thought that the captain was going to test the two of them. But else the test was to see if Eren would try to run off there was almost no point in dragging the two of them around with him. A bridle slung over her shoulder after putting away the last horse she paused to look out into the dark night sky towards the city. Tonight was finally the night the cadets could pick their regiments of choice. It was going to be interesting to see who, if anyone decided to join the scouts after that last battle at Trost. Eren had noticed the girl stop and look out into the darkness. It seemed they both had the same thoughts on their minds. 

“Do you think anyone is gonna join the scouts?” Eren asked softly as he walked towards her. His voice was soft and seemed unsure and unsteady. 

“I’m sure a couple will join,” she answered softly. She really only expected to see Armin and Mikasa join the scouts. But even if they did there was no guarantee that the two would even see Eren or Alex if they were assigned to other squads. 

“Come one, we better hurry or we are gonna be late for dinner,” she said before she took one last look at the full moon before she started to walk down the row of stables, hanging up the bridle in her hands she lead the way into the squads makeshift home with Eren hot on her heels. Walking into the mess hall Alex could feel the eyes at the table turn glance at the duo. She was sure all the eyes were simply staring at Eren. They watched him like he was a ticking time bomb about to go off at any moment, and she couldn’t blame them for feeling that way about the kid. They each grabbed a bowl and piece of bread before making their way to the table once again joining the team for a meal. Of course they were the last ones to get their food and sit down. 

“You two are too slow,” was the simple low greeting they got from their captain who sat at the head of the table. Eren was the only one who apologized as they sat down. Alex could feel the glare at her from the captain. As much as she didn’t like it she was still a subordinate of his. 

“Sorry Sir!” She said simply when she lifted her eyes up to glance at him to see him glaring at her. It wasn’t worth a punishment for not answering him, but he also made it clear he wasn’t happy with her. But with that she simply started eating as she ripped off a small bit of bread popping it into her mouth chewing at it. The chat at the table had resumed to the plan of the trip outside the wall in a month. The plan was to try and get to Eren's family home. Alex didn’t pay a lot of attention as she tried to enjoy her food. 

“Starting tomorrow Eren and Alex will start to train for the trip outside the wall,” Levi said as he glanced at his team getting a nod from everyone. Alex and Eren were rather excited, finally training would start in earnest. This is what the two kids had been looking forward to. Though they were going to be upset when they learned the training was not what they expected it to be. Finishing up the food the team sat around the table sipping at some tea the chatter had slowly died out. Seeing that as her chance Alex turned her attention over to the only other woman in the building. 

“Oh Petra. I owe you a thanks,” Alex said as she looked over at the woman. To which the woman looked at her extremely confused. It seemed she didn’t have a clue what the younger girl was talking about. Now Alex was unsure and confused as well. 

“What for?” The woman asked curious what the young woman thought she had done. 

“Were you not the one who threw a blanket on me last night when I fell asleep at my desk?” She asked softly tilting her head softly as Petra continued to look confused. 

“Sorry that was not me,” she answered with a soft shake of her head. Alex was surprised to hear that it had not been Petra who blew out her candle and placed the blanket over her shoulders as she slept at her desk after filling out the paperwork for Hange for the day. With that brown eyes glanced around the table curious on who had done it but no one spoke up admitting to the task. 

“Well thanks to whoever had done that,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders pushing away the thought though she was now really curious who had gone and walked into her room now. It didn’t worry her about someone just walking into her room. The act of tossing her blanket over her body had been a kind gesture that someone didn’t have to do. So who had been so kind to her? Damn it her mind was thinking as she wanted to know. She lifted her cup of tea up to her lips taking a long sip before she finished the cup of tea. With that done she stood up and looked over at Eren. 

“Well I’m retiring for the night. Good night Eren I’ll see you in the morning,” she said flashing her friend a soft smile before she started to walk out of the mess hall and towards her bedroom. Once again she needed to fill in the journal for Hange but this time she didn’t plan to fall asleep at her desk.


	11. Chapter 11

The next was like all the others. Alex got up and fed the horses and cleaned stalls with Eren while someone else from the squad always kept an eye on them both, or at least on Eren. And once again they just simply cleaned around the castle for the rest of the morning till Hange finally swung by for the first time after the murder of her two titan pets she had. Since Hange was around Alex left Eren with her to do whatever odd experiment that the woman planned to do with the poor boy. This was her time to get a little alone time. Though it felt odd to be doing something on her own. She washed her clothes she had packed with her and hung them up to dry before she finally wasn't sure what else to do with herself. Her body felt completely back to normal now as her ribs no longer hurt and so she felt the urge to try and do some training again not wanting to become out of shape with so much time off.

The courtyard was bare and empty when the blonde walked in and glanced around surprise that no one was around. But surely they had not gone that far. Or so she assumed they wouldn't all just up and leave without the captain or someone letting her know. But then again maybe she gave them too much credit, she wasn't sure and simply sighed. She sighed softly, it doesn't matter now what's done is done. She walked up to an old training dummy as she took a defensive stance using the dummy to practice her less than great self defence. Her stance was always sloppy, and the woman would swear she had two left feet when she moved. On the ground she was incredibly clumsy. So much so it was almost embarrassing how hard it was for her to just perform simple maneuvers. A part of her was greatly happy that the squad was gone so she could practice in peace without worry of making a fool of herself. It irritates her how bad she was on the ground. She could nearly fly using ODM gear. But she struggled to fight well on the ground.  
She worked till she was breathing heavily and was wiping sweat from her forehead. Her white blouse clung to her body, she had discarded her scouts cloak and her brown jacket as she proceeded to throw punches at the dummy even as her knuckles ached and one was even slightly broken open and bleeding a little. She stopped only when she suddenly heard voices and glanced over to see the team had returned. She stopped to gather up her jacket and cloak before turning her attention to Hange and Levi who were leading the way as the brunette woman was talking up a storm. That was nothing new as Eren followed behind. His hands bandaged as he looked down at them with empty eyes. Ignoring the two captains Alex sprinted between the two of them dropping her things to free her hands as she grabbed his wrists above the bandages.

"Eren what happened? What did they do to you?" She asked truly concerned for the young man as he blinked his eyes at her, surprised to hear the woman's questions, or maybe it was her concern that she had for him that had confused and surprised him.

"Nothing. They didn't do anything to me. I did that," he answered her honestly as she was inspecting his hands as the two captains stood behind her watching. She was skeptical in his answer, she truly was. But with the two captains standing by if there was any chance that Eren was lying he wasn't about to tell her the truth in front of the others. She scrunched her nose up at him but reluctantly she let go of his wrists before she leaned down to gather up her clothes she had dropped.

"Looks like you have been practicing," Eren said quickly trying to change the subject. She ran her fingers through her loose hair that was sticking to the back of her neck and over her forehead.

"Yeah, figured I was going to get rusty if I didn't," she said casually as she turned and fell in step with him as they headed towards the castle.

"Have your ribs healed?" Hange asked looking over her shoulder at the duo.

"Yes I don't feel any pain or discomfort now," she answered as she looked over at the woman as the four walked into the castle the other team members still where not yet back though it seemed.

"That's a quick recovery you were pretty bruised up," Hange said recalling when she had met the girl in the infirmary after the battle of Trost.

"It looked worse than it was," she said with a shrug of her shoulders at the woman as they walked into the castle. A silence filled the air as the four walked.

"Your filthy go get cleaned up," was the sudden remark that came from her captain. Alex had to bite back her remark that came to her mind.

"Yes sir!" Was the hard remark that Alex gave as she stormed away leaving the three behind. Hange raised an eyebrow surprised by Levi's words to the woman.

"What's bothering you?" Hange asked, looking at the short man.

"Nothing," was the dry reply he gave the brunette beside him. Which caused Hange to arch an eyebrow. She knew better than to believe Levi's words.

"Is it because I asked Erwin to add her to your team of hand picked elites?" Hange asked arching an eyebrow now completely curious as to why Levi treated the girl so coldly.

"That's not it. You picked her and I trust your judgement," Levi said as it worried Hange may be upset he was questioning her taste in people.

"If her being on your team is not an issue then why treat her so coldly?" Hange asked, wanting to poke and pry into her fellow captains head. Poor Eren was looking completely lost as he watched the two captains talk unsure what the fascination was with his friend or the captain's behavior.

"I don't think she is treated like any other brat," Levi answered, trying to walk away from the woman only to have her following after him.

"You do not treat her the same or you would have sent her out to patrol with Oluo, Petra, Gunther and Eld when they left earlier. And then just now?" Hange raised an eyebrow before a wide grin suddenly pulled at her face as she watched the anger pulling at Levi's face as he tried to control his anger in front of the woman.

"Oh you like the new recruit," she nearly sang as she suddenly jumped back away from the young man who had reached out to try and grab her.

"Do not say such things," he hissed at the brunette which only caused her to laugh knowing she was right as she watched the dark haired man regain his composure. It seemed the two had nearly forgotten about the young man behind them who followed them into the mess hall and who had been somewhat listening to the discussion the duo were having. But the kid was that, just a kid and he was oblivious to what exactly was being discussed between the two captain's.

Alex had quickly gone to her room to grab clean clothes before she made her way to the closest bathroom where she could wash up and get clean before changing into her freshly washed uniform. She couldn't argue it did feel extremely nice to be cleaned up before she went to start eating dinner with the team. Her hair was still damp and clung to her face, neck and her back as she left the long blonde hair down and loose. Walking into the mess hall she spotted Eren, Hange and Levi sitting at the table. No one else was around, Alex softly arched an eyebrow to herself surprised to see the team was not around. Grabbing a bowl of soup she made her way over to sit at the table with the ground sitting beside Eren as she always did. She glanced over at his bandaged hand still unhappy with the sight but now still now was not the time to say anything about them.

"Where is everyone else?" She asked softly glancing over at Eren who shrugged seemingly unsure of the answer to her question. Alex had made sure the question was loud enough the other two at the table could hear.

"Oh they were sent out on patrol," Hange answered as Levi just scowled at the brunette for answering the blonde.

"Oh okay," Alex answered softly as she started to eat again. She pouted softly unhappy to hear the team had gone out without her and she wasn't needed for Eren's training so she was left out. But she wasn't going to say anything but it was probably obvious she was unhappy as she glared down at her bowl of food as she ate. The tables seemed rather quiet as every time Hange tried to speak up Levi was quick to shoot the woman down and shut her up as best he could. Though it didn't always work. Finally Alex finished her bowl of food and stood up from the table.

"I'll see you in the morning, Eren. Bye Hange," she said flashing the two a smile ignoring her captain. The action caused Hange to burst out laughing as the young woman had left the room.

"Oh you've pissed her off Levi," Hange teased to which the dark haired male glared at her for. It irritated him how she disrespected him with the action of bidding the two a parting but she had not even glanced at him.

"I do not care," he said as he raised his tea cup up to his lips with his odd customary routine of holding only the top of the cup.

"I don't know that veining popping from your forehead says otherwise," Hange continued to tease enjoying how fun it was to tease her friend and fellow caption. Eren was stuck sitting there watching the two unable to leave Levi's presence without being given permission. Hange was finding it entertaining teasing the short man who she saw as a friend. Levi had to resist the urge to do or say anything that may cause Hange to fly off the handle and get worse as she teased him. 

Alex had made her way to her room still fuming and irritated with her captain. She almost expected him to scold her for just down right ignoring him. But he had not said a word and had simply let her leave. Surely he will scold her later without Hange around more than likely. And she wasn't wrong Levi had decided to wait for the woman to leave but she wasn't. Once again Eren had made the mistake of letting Hange go off about titans and her thoughts on their attempt to get him to transform today. Levi actually took that as an opportunity to slip away, the team had returned and were eating their own dinner now. So he trusted that leaving Eren with the team and Hange would be safe enough to do.

Levi had walked quietly through the hall towards the room he knew was Alex's. The door was slightly open and the soft glow of a flickering candle softly filled the hall. For a second Levi paused and remembered the last time he walked past her door to find a light inside still on during the middle of the night. That last time he looked in to see her asleep at her desk where he had tossed a blanket over her shoulders and blew the candle out. This time when he walked up to the door he spotted the girl sitting at the desk writing away at the leatherback journal.

Alex had been so busy recalling her day and everything about Eren she had not even noticed that Levi had cracked her door open further than it was already so he could stand in the doorway. She wasn't even sure how long he had been there till suddenly the sound of someone clearing their throat had her jump. She dropped her pencil as she let out a squeak of surprise as her body jolted and she looked up to see her short captain leaning against the door frame of her room.

"Captain!" She gasped softly surprised to see the man standing there, his grey eyes hard as he watched her. For a split second the two just looked at each other. Alex's eyes where side and her heart raced after the surprise of seeing someone just standing in her door. Though it became more unnerving seeing Levi standing there glaring at her.

"I do not accept insubordination," he hissed, finally breaking the silence of the room. Alex shouldn't have been surprised that he had shown up to irritate her and punish her for her attitude lately.

"I do not recall being insubordinate," she said calmly as she looked over at him as she remained seated at her desk. Okay that was a bit of a lie. She went out of her way to ignore him every chance she got. And her answer only seemed to irritate him more as his eyes became slits and his mouth pressed into a firm line. With that he strolled across the room to stand by the desk and look down at her as she remained seated.

"Be very careful with your words and actions, Racher," Levi hisses as he placed his left hand on her desk and leaned in towards her slightly. His tone was hard and his stare was hard. Alex felt her mouth grow dry as Levi leaned in trying to use her sitting down as a way to loom over her since she wasn't much shorter than him. Her lips parted as she ran her tongue over her bottom lip softly even though her mouth felt dry.

"Yes sir," she said softly as she looked up at him as he leaned in towards her. She knew she had been a smart ass with her reply to him. And now he was testing to see if she would continue to push back against his authority. She knew she shouldn't push back and needed to be careful.

"I'm assuming I am in trouble for ignoring you earlier?" She asked softly looking up at him when he did not instantly move away from her.

"You are. I do not allow such disrespectful actions," he growled down at her. But she kept her composure the best she could. She bit her bottom lip trying not to say anything else. She wanted to point out that he treated her with the same disrespect.

"I will make sure to remember that for the future," she said softly as she nibbled on her lip as it felt like the captain was leaning in closer to her than he needed to be. And it suddenly was making the young woman feeling oddly uncomfortable as she shifted in her seat and her eyes darted away. Levi had noticed her glance away and he took that opportunity to glance down at her lips watching her as she nibbled on her plump full bottom lip feeling unease under his gaze. The duo had remained like that for what felt like hours though it had only been minutes. Finally Levi pulled away and turned on his heel leaving the girl sitting in her seat watching the man's back.

"Be sure you remember or next time there will be punishment," he said before he left her and her room leaving the poor blonde shocked and surprised. She had completely expected a punishment right then and there. She had heard the rumor's of how hard and stern he was and she did not expect him to be so lenient with her. Honestly she expected she was about to get more stable duty, or cleaning duty as punishment. Though it's not like those were punishments for her which may have been the issue. Was Levi unsure how to punish her? She wondered if that's why she got a warning this time? Now she was curious and full of questions but she didn't dare ask her captain as she watched him leave her room.


	12. Chapter 12

Levi made his way back to the mess hall to find Hange still raving about titans to the poor kid she had cornered at the table. His elite team was spread out over the room keeping their distance from the two at the table. Levi's mood was still sour, he had planned to give the woman a punishment for her actions lately. But it wasn't easy. She cleaned without asking, the thought of how she had even cleaned and oiled the horse tack the morning they were supposed to leave the city with Eren. How was he supposed to punish a cadet that otherwise went out of her way to be a good subordinate but disrespected her captain in the smallest of ways? The thought was just irritating him as he felt his jaw clenched as he entered the mess hall and noticed the glances of his soldiers except Eren who had not yet noticed. Levi didn't enjoy his lack of ideas on how to deal with the young slightly disrespectful woman on his team.

Alex was feeling similarly irritated after the captain's visit to her room. She knew in small minor ways she was disrespectful and that it clearly didn't go unnoticed by her captain. But still he seemed to be bluffing about his threat to punish her. The actions were so minor they didn't seem worth his time to discipline her for. After all she was already stuck on stable duty and cleaned up daily around the castle. He wasn't sending her out on patrols either. And that was before she started to act out in such small ways. Even though his actions towards her irritated her. She found herself pushing out of her chair and storming out of her room feeling the need for some fresh air. She walked out into the main courtyard and looked around. She felt restless and irritated as she walked. Though punching the training dummy almost sounded nice again she wasn't sure her body would enjoy that abuse as she took her anger out on the dummy. No she needed to do something that would help sooth her.

She carefully made her way down to the supply room of the castle, slipped on her ODM gear and made her way outside all without being seen. She looked out into the darkness only the moon illuminated the world around her as she walked away from the castle. This was exactly what she needed. She just had to make sure she wasn't caught as she tried to walk quickly and quietly without the ODM gear clanking loudly at her hips. Once she stepped out of the castle she let out a sigh of relief as she felt she had gotten away with it. She looked out into the darkness around the castle as the moon was all that laminated the world outside the castle. She walked towards the tree line looking for two trees that were not too far apart and a perfect position.

She fired off the grapples hearing them sink into the trees. All she needed was a little gas and sent herself up into the tree-line around her. She only used a little gas to propel herself up. Once high enough she turned the gas off and started to summersault through the air enjoying the feeling of her body as it continued to twist in the air till she lost momentum and gravity kicked in and she started to fall towards the ground. Having faith in her gear she let herself fall till the cords of her ODM pulled tight and she found herself hanging there upside down. Her long blonde hair loose and hung down, oddly it felt good with the blood rushing to her head before she finally pushed up to sit up. Knowing she shouldn't use her gas she started to swing softly swaying back and forth almost like a kid. She really enjoyed the feeling as she sat there with her feet unable to touch the ground.

She proceeded to spend over an hour swinging and playing among the trees welcoming the freedom her ODM gear offered as it wasn't even that hard for her to swing around the trees even without the use of any gas. It wasn't as fast or fun as it would have been had she used up her gas. But she didn't mind it was still better than staying in her room doing nothing all night.

Finally the moon was high in the sky and her body felt sore using muscles she hadn't used all week where tense and tight. But still she didn't want to go in yet when she dropped to the ground landing easily on her feet. She slowly started to walk back towards the castle that is now dark and looked quiet. Well at least that should make getting back to the storage room to put away her ODM gear without being caught. She poked her head into the main entrance of the castle and didn't see anyone before she continued to walk in and turned to head towards the storage room. She was almost there when suddenly someone cleared their throat behind her. She froze and a cold sweat broke out over her skin. She knew that sound all too well and she knew who was suddenly standing behind her in the hallway. She slowly turned to look over at a very unhappy Levi. She almost swore she could see smoke coming from his ears. She forced a small innocent smile at the man as if she was unaware of why he was so angry.

"Hey captain," she said softly as she tried to flash him a small smile. But he still did not look any less pleased with her as he strolled towards her as she stood there trying not to wince as she watched him stop barely a foot away.

"What do you think you're doing cadet?" He growled down at her as she stood her ground. She bit her tongue softly trying not to say she had been playing around.

"Was practicing sir," she said simply as she stood her ground as if she was not doing anything wrong even though she knew she didn't have authority to use her ODM gear at the moment.

"And who authorized the use of your ODM gear?" He asked his tone hard as he glared down at her through slits of eyes. His tone and question just dared her to say something more.

"No one sir but I didn't use any of my gas," she said softly as she answered his question assuming after a moment of silence that he would not be happy with her if she did not answer him.

"No but's cadet!" He growled down at her and now she shrunk away from him softly and took a step back as he growled nearly yelling at her.

"Sorry sir," she said softly as she looked up at him with wide brow eyes having never seen the captain so pissed off. He sighed softly at the girl. He understood she felt the need to practice, but being out away from the squad barracks made getting resupplies a less than easy task.

"Go put your gear away," he hissed softly at her which she jumped and turned around with a quick yes sir as she quickly started to speed walk away from him. She was less than happy to hear boots following her as she nearly tried to run away from her captain and getting caught. She slipped into the supply room before her fingers quickly started to unhook her ODM gear from her leather belts that where strung along her body. Her slender fingers worked quickly as she placed her gear where it belonged along the other soldiers' gear.

Levi stood back by the door and watched as the woman worked quickly pulling her gear off of her body and putting it away. Though she was rushing he noticed the care she still took ensuring that her gear was put away properly. She knew she was in trouble and worked quickly but still made sure she handled her gear with care. Once done she hesitated before she stood up and turned towards him. She was worried about what he would decide as a punishment for her.

"Come along," Levi said, turning and leaving the room forcing Alex to trot out of the room after him and down the hall. But she remained a full step behind him once she caught up and kept up to him as he walked. At first she wasn't sure where her captain was walking to. Till she realized they were at the area of the castle the bedrooms were in. Now she was curious what the hell was going on as she glanced over at the dark haired man who had said a word to her during the entire walk across the castle. The place was quiet and she didn't even hear anyone stirring in their rooms. Then again why would they it was after midnight and the team was used to being up at the crack of dawn. Levi came to a stop at what she assumed was his bedroom.

"Starting tomorrow in the evenings you will be helping me with paperwork. It's late now. Head to your room and do not leave again till morning," he told her before he slipped quickly into his room leaving her standing out in the hall. She blinked her eyes softly, staring at the man's door. It sounded like her captain was treating her like a kid. He was going to babysit her in the evenings to keep from getting into more trouble. She sighed after standing staring at his door for a minute before she finally turned and made the way down to her own room.

Alex was surprised to find the captain was still up, and how he had noticed she was not in her room? Maybe he had stopped at her room to ask her a question and found her missing? But at midnight what could he have needed? Unless he noticed early and was simply waiting for her? She just found her head full of questions as she walked. But they did her no good to ponder over them or what the answers to them may be. Yet as she reached her room it was still just so hard to push the thoughts away. Stripping out of her clothes the girl was too tired to put on anything to sleep in besides just her panties and so that's what she crawled under her covers in.

Levi had not noticed the girl's absence at first and to be honest he didn't even know exactly how long she had been missing from her room. He had stopped signing paperwork to go get himself some fresh hot water so he could make some tea. Deciding to check on her to make sure she had not fallen asleep at her desk again he had stuck his head into her when he noticed the door ever so slightly ajar. No light filled the room. But then again there was also no cadet, curious as to where she may be he made his way to the kitchen to toss a kettle on. As he waited for the water to heat he walked around the halls slightly not finding her in the area. With his hot water he headed back to his room to finish his work and enjoy some tea. Once again her room was empty on his way back to his room. It wasn't far off from being midnight and she wasn't usually one to be up and roaming the castle at such a late hour. He would never admit it but it made him feel uneasy not knowing when the woman was. Leaving the kettle in his room beside the empty tea cup on his desk he left his room and started to hunt the castle for the woman. Even checking the dungeon where Eren was out asleep snoring softly alone in his cell. It was making his skin crawl that he couldn't find hers but before he was about to go out and check the stable to make sure her horse was still there the front door opened and closed with the softest of thuds. He made his way towards the noise to spot the blonde woman. ODM gear strapped to her hips and waist swayed with each step she took as she looked like she was heading towards the supply room. He followed after her down the hall but she didn't seem to notice him behind her till he suddenly cleared his throat. And for a moment she looked like it was Satan himself standing behind her. Levi couldn't deny he was angry as he watched the woman. She not only used government gear without authorization she had also snuck out not telling a soul where she had gone. And worse of all he was upset with himself for how he had reacted and how it bothered him so much that she had disappeared. And so as he watched her put away her gear he decided the best course of action for her punishment would be to ensure she couldn't do that again. He would stick her on helping him file and do his work he had slightly fallen behind on after having to now deal with Eren full waking hours. And so making himself a tea with the barely still warm water he sighed and took a long sip before heading to bed himself as he no longer had the strength to continue his late night work.


	13. Chapter 13

The early morning felt as if it had just rushed along too fast. Alex was exhausted when the sun had started to fill her room and forced her awake. Her body was sore and tight all over after all the different practice she had. Her left knuckle ached softly where the skin had split open while she was punching the dummy even though she had wrapped her hands. Oh well it wasn't bad just looked like she cut it open a little. She forced herself up and to get bathed and dressed before she dragged her feet to the mess hall. She was hungry and her stomach was more than happy to growl loudly to let her know how hungry she was. She dragged her feet as she walked into the mess hall to see the table full of her teammates. Eren arched an eyebrow at the girl as she walked into the mess hall as she moved slowly. And she looked tired, her long hair was left loose just combed out. She didn't even pull it back into a ponytail. She grabbed herself a bowl and moved to nearly toss herself into her seat beside Eren.

"You look tired," Eren said with a light chuckle, unaware of the girl's late night fun.

"The sun just came up too early this morning," she mumbled softly as she yawned softly and stretched, feeling her body argue. She could feel her captains glare at her but she didn't bother to look over at him. Eren just shook his head at his friend and sighed softly trying not to laugh at her response. Alex was too tired to feel up to trying to force small talk as she simply ate her breakfast. She was almost happy that all she would have to do is clean up the castle and be babysat by her captain since he did not trust her to be left alone now. The thought of being treated like such a child almost made her groan. But she kept her complaints to herself as she finished eating and forced herself up to her feet.

"Ready to start cleaning some more?" Alex asked as she looked over at Eren. Only to watch the boy glance away from her quickly before he finally looked back at her.

"I think Hange is stopping by again today," he said, almost a little nervous to answer her playful question. She flashed him a warm smile which seemed to make him feel less uneasy.

"Okay, but don't let them beat on you too badly today," she said, playful glancing down at his still bandaged hands before she turned to leave the mess hall. Heading for the stable she would start with feeding and cleaning the stalls for the horses before making her way inside the castle to start cleaning. It was boring, but her body ached from her practice the night before, she hated feeling so out of shape, or mostly it was her ribs that had spoken up reminding her to not push it till she was completely healed and back to normal. Her knuckles also slightly hurt so that made punching the dummy not sound fun. And so cleaning it was, she tended to the horses first. Then picked weeds from the front courtyard area. Before moving inside to start sweeping the floors and before she knew it lunch had come and gone. Everyone had been busy and missed lunch. They settled for an early supper. Petra even suggested eating outside since the weather was beautiful and Alex had cleaned up making it easier to talk the captain into eating outside.

Alex was rather warmed by the praise Petra had given and that it had been enough to have the captain again to let them sit outside and enjoy the setting sun. The food was as bad as always but it was better than starving. The team was sitting at a table together. Small talk lingered over the team. It seemed that slowly everyone was growing closer, or at least it felt like the team was starting to open up to the two kids. Alex was eating when she glanced over to see Eren's hands still bandaged. It was odd to see his hands not healing. The kid really didn't seem to have much control over his abilities as he wasn't able to heal his hands and the bite marks she had learned he gave himself. Eren was sitting at the edge of the table talking with their teammates. Suddenly Eren's spoon fell from the table hitting the ground. Alex glanced over watching as Eren reached for his spoons. The flash of light and stench of rotten flesh suddenly filled her senses. Panic filled the table as everyone jumped to their feet. Alex jumped to her feet as she watched the team draw their swords and looked panicked at Eren who was sticking out of a half formed titan hand. He was panicked, the team was panicking. And Alex found herself unarmed standing between the two. Levi was right beside her barking orders to calm down and back off. His team had jumped into action and were letting their fear take over as she screamed at poor Eren who was panicking as well as his hand was stuck in the muscle fibre of the titan hand.

Unarmed the small blonde could do nothing more than take up a defensive stance in hopes that if one of the team mates jumped at Eren she would try to prevent them from killing him. But that wouldn't be easy with her being unarmed while the team was armed and they also out weighed her and Levi in numbers. Though she was sure Levi had them outmatched on his own. But still she had no desire to find out just how skilled the Levi squad was. She could hear Hange yelling as she came running since she had not yet left to return to the city for the night. But it seemed she wasn't fast enough as Eren forced himself free from the titan flesh and tumbled back till he hit the ground. She glanced over at him to see that he was completely unhurt and okay. Though he still looked panicked he was okay. And with the titan arm sizzling away before them the team was able to slowly calm down.

But still the team was not ready to put down their blades even as Hange was inspecting the sizzling disappearing flesh. But it seems they were at least no longer going to try and kill Eren. Leaving the team to the captain she turned her attention over to Eren offering him a hand. The boy was shaken as he took the warm hand and helped him to his feet.

"Are you okay?" She asked softly as she looked down at him as she offered her hand. Eren was happy to take the hand and stand up. Yet it was still a bit surprising. The blonde had remained so calm and collected even when faced with the unknown and the fearful titans.

"Yeah I'm fine now," Eren answered as he glanced over at the bones that were falling apart. Alex softly nodded her head before turning her glance over at the captain who was standing back watching the two while the four teammates were still sweating and looked incredibly uneasy. Alex couldn't blame them, the team had been uneasy all week. It's just this situation that brought out the team's true feelings and unease.

"Good but what the hell was that?" She asked softly under her breath not wanting to draw anyone else's attention to their conversation.

"I don't know," Eren said so softly even though she almost missed it. Alex couldn't deny she felt bad for the kid, it seemed his own powers scared him as much as they scared everyone else in that moment. But before Alex could try to sooth him a bit Hange was turning her attention from the little remains left to Eren himself. Alex wasn't even sure where one question started and the other ended and Hange raged on in a frenzy of questions. At one point Alex noticed her holding Eren's spoon before catching her mention that his titan hand had been holding it. Alex found herself glancing over at Levi who was still dealing with his team. Though they were still clearly upset while he remained calm and collected.

It took a bit for things to settle back down and for the group to return to their meals. But they made it clear they did not trust the kid and they didn't try to hide it at the time being either which made Alex feel bad even more for Eren as she returned to eating beside him. But she was happy to be able to sit between him and the team putting a little distance up for him even if he didn't worry about it. And soon enough dinner had come and gone and the team had found themselves back in the castle and scattered. Eren was down in the dungeon, and the team were all in their rooms. Well except one. Alex found herself sitting on a couch in captain Levi's room filling in her daily journal while the captain sat at his own desk filling in paperwork for his own job. Once finished putting as much detail into the day's events, especially at dinner as she could, she closed the journal and for once in the last hour she glanced over at her captain. It made her feel uneasy for some reason knowing that the room they were sitting in was his temporary bedroom though he had it set up far more like an office with his large desk along one side a small couch in the middle and a simple bed pushed off to the far corner that looked untouched when she glanced over at it.

Silence had always been a friend to the girl and yet here she was suddenly shifting her weight softly on the couch suddenly feeling uneasy in the dead silent as she finally glanced over at the dark haired man who was nose deep in his work completely ignoring the girl sitting on his couch. She sighed softly not thinking that he would be able to hear her but it seemed he must have as the silence of the room was finally broken after an hour.

"If you're done, make yourself useful and make some tea," he said simply not looking up from his papers as his eyes read over the papers and his pen would slip across the paper filling in whatever it was he needed to sign or fill in.

"Yes sir," she said softly, tossing a glare at him as she forced herself to her feet from the couch and made her way out of his bedroom and headed to the kitchen to put a kettle on and heat up some water for his tea. She grabbed two tea cups and some of the loose tea leaves she knew the captain kept in the kitchen. It took longer waiting for the water to boil as she stood there and found herself staring at the kettle. She was in no rush to return to Levi's room, being stuck either sitting on his couch bored or being put to work like a maid. She found it irritating but there was nothing she could do. She couldn't say no to her captain or fear a worse punishment than simply being treated as a child.

After a few minutes she had the tea made and with a tray in hand carried the two cups back to the bedroom with her. Using her foot she knocked on the door and waited for the captain to open the door for her before she walked in and headed towards his desk placing the tray down as he moved to sit back in his seat. She placed the cup down to his right before taking her cup of tea and moving to the couch to sit down and slowly sip at the hot flavoured water. She had to give the captain credit. He had good tastes in tea as she hummed softly enjoying the tea.

"Seems you approve of my tea," Levi suddenly called out as he had been watching the girl as she sat down on the couch and heard her hum happily as she sipped at her tea.

"I do," was the simple reply she gave not wanting to risk herself saying something she may regret as she sipped in the flavoured hot water. Once she was done with her cup of tea she started to clean up the area she had been sitting at and gathered up her cup and the tray happy to run them back to the kitchen getting her once again out of the bedroom and free for a short time. But she knew not to take too long or she could risk the captain coming looking for her and he would not be happy about having to stop his work. And that's how her night proceeded till she started to yawn while sitting at his couch and he finally told her she was dismissed and could retire to her room for the night. With a simple yes sir and soft good night she slipped out of his room and nearly run for hers. She had not enjoyed being babysat like a child being stuck sitting on his couch doing nothing. Once back in her room she smiled on a night gown and tossed herself onto her hard bed welcoming the sleep that fell over her as she closed her eyes.


	14. Chapter 14

Why was it that mornings always seemed to come so early? Alex pushed herself from bed as the early morning sunlight filled her room. She would have thought after three years of getting up at the crack of dawn she would be used to it by now? Nope absolutely not and it irritated her as she dragged her feet around her room as she prepared for the day.

It seemed to be such a normal routine now for her to make her way through the castle halls and into the mess hall to see the familiar faces of her team. Today they seemed harder, less than pleased to be sitting at the table eating their breakfast. Most likely they were still uneasy about the events from the day before. As usually Eren lit up at the only friendly face of the group as she approached the table with her food in hand. Levi shot a glance between the two and scowled softly as it seemed the two had only been growing closer and closer over the course of their week together. Eren and Alex had not noticed the look from the captain as they softly chatted back and forth which consisted of Eren teasing her softly for her lack of being a good morning person. Alex had always been the last person to get up during their time in the training Corp.

"Today we will be going into town, Alex make sure the horses are ready," Levi called out forcing the team to stop their meal to look over at him all nodding their giving a yes sir. Alex bit her tongue, keeping herself from grumbling at the thought of having to tack up all the horses before the team was ready to leave. But she knew if Levi heard her make a single complaint he would find some way to punish her again. And so she knew it was best to keep her mouth shut.

So she rushed her breakfast before heading out to the stables feeding the horses, cleaning the stalls and lastly she started to pull them out brushing each one before taking them up. She was softly standing beside the large black mare that captain Levi rode. The mare seemed to enjoy her company a lot more than the captain did as she was petting the large animal as its head hung softly soft brown eyes half closed as the horse seemed to be enjoying the love it was receiving. The sound of boots approaching them was enough to force her hand to pause on the horses neck as she looked over to spot the team walking towards her and the horses. Without a good of praise or thanks from the captain, or anyone other than Eren. Alex turned her attention to her own horse before throwing herself up and onto the back of the large beast. Slipping her feet into the stirrups she turned her attention to the captain who was mounted and ready himself. Without a word he turned his horse and took off. Alex squeezed her heels into her horses side and gave a soft kiss as the sorrel horse jumped forwards, loping after her captain as everyone fell into place with Levi leading. Eren was right behind him and Alex was a stride behind him with the rest of the team falling in behind her.

Alex was sure the only reason she got dragged alone was because Levi did not trust leaving her behind unsupervised. Which just irritated her as she was tending to the horses waiting for everyone to run their errands. She didn't really need anything other than to give Hange her current journal and grab a new one, but she had done that when she first got to town. Now she was simply waiting the day out for everyone to return. Alex had taken the time to be looking over Commander Erwin's long range tactic for scouting. She remembers the captain telling them not to inform anyone of where they were going to be positioned in the group. Keeping Eren hidden and safe was a must have not only from titans, but being out in the open and away from everyone else could give someone an idea of trying to kill him. Or so that was Alex's assumption on why keeping Eren's position unknown was a must have priority. But learning the structure of how Erwin ran his scouting missions was important and Alex took the chance to look over the little diagram she had been given. She was a little surprised though to find that Levi's team was giving such a good spot in the position. Supply wagons didn't even get their spot. Which made her wonder. Why place Eren in such a good spot? The Levi squad was talented, well skilled people who could have probably been more useful being in another position. But then again now that they had to babysit two kids she imagined Erwin was trying to give the team a break allowing them a safe position nearly as far away from fighting titans as possible. She sighed, still not overly happy with the thought that she was a burden on the team. The thought had her stuff the little bit of paper into her pants pocket irritated with herself as she waited happy once the team was back and they were able to make their way back to the castle they were calling home for the time being.

It was now late afternoon and Eren had once again agreed to help Alex muck out the stables. But suddenly the sound of a number of boots filled the air. Alex watched as Eren rushed out of the hallway of stalls to see who was all walking past. Alex followed more slowly to be met with the sight of their friends having walked past the stables. Eren didn't hesitate to call out to them, stopping the group. Of course Mikasa and Armin were the first to rush their friend. Mikasa barbered Eren with questions on his health before muttering something about making Levi pay? And did she call the captain a pipsqueak? The way Mikasa described him almost made Alex laugh. She assumed it was for the beating he had given Eren way back when the court case had gone down. Alex walked up behind Eren as the group of their friends called out to Eren.

"Alex you're here too? You disappeared after the court date and we were wondering what happened to you," Armin said turning his big blue eyes over to the young woman standing behind Eren. She flashed the boy a slight smile.

"Sorry, I hope I didn't make you worry. Hange figured someone should keep a close eye on this idiot," she said, jabbing her thumb over to Eren who tried to glare at her as she called him an idiot. That seemed to surprise everyone. Then again it's not like she had felt close enough to any of them to brag that she had been thrown into the Levi squad for them to deal with.

"So your a scout on the Levi squad?" Armin asked, seemingly surprised as was everyone else who was eavesdropping while greeting Eren.

"I'm sure it's just temporary," she said, avoiding a yes or no answer.

"So if you're here does that mean you all joined the scouts?" Eren asked, seeming surprised to see so many of their friends and classmates from the training Corp standing before him as scouts as well.

"Well yeah why else would we be here?" Connie said not actually expecting an answer to his question.

"So does that mean Annie, Marco and Jean joined the military police?" He asked as neither him or Alex spotted the three in question. The sound of boots approaching them from behind had bother Alex and Eren turned around surprised by who they saw behind them.

"Marco is dead," was the dry reply Jean gave as he looked down at his fellow scout members and training buddies. Alex felt her eyes grow wide and her mouth went dry. How could that happen? She remembers seeing Marco alive and well during the battle of Trost. Sure she missed the last half helping Armin and Mikasa but still Marco seemed so strong how could he die? Alex could feel the dread washing over her, she never knew all this time that the dark haired man she knew as Marco was gone. But she kept her composure, now was not the time or place to grieve over a fallen comrade. Eren on the other hand seemed to struggle with the news.

"What are you saying? Marco isn't dead," he rambled off sounded like a person in denial. Alex was sure for a moment that Eren was in denial as he stepped towards Jean struggling to comprehend what he was learning. Jean proceeded to inform Eren that no one had seen it. Alex felt her arms wrap around her ribs softly under the green cloak she wore. It was still hard news to swallow. And she could feel the grieve and sadness settling in over the group as the fresh wounds were reopened with the memories of their lost friend. But before the group could sink any further into despair it seemed they were lucky as a voice called out for all the new rookies to come get their uniforms. The green cloaks that would help symbolize them as scouts had arrived. That forced everyone to drag their feet over and get their cloak before throwing them over their shoulders. And for a split second Alex images Marco standing among his friends receiving his cloak as well. She shook her head forcing the thought away. He would not be the last comrade for her to lose and she knew that, but it didn't stop the ache in her heart.

Of course Alex was pulled from her head by the sound of Jean bitching at Eren. In some way it oddly felt soothing to hear the two bickers. It reminded her of their training days. Alex just stood back and let the two bicker. After all she really couldn't argue with Jean he had a very valid argument as those around Eren needed him to prove that he was trustworthy. And Eren needed to see that not everyone trusted him and he had to learn that. Leaving the two idiots on to argue amongst themselves Alex turned her attention to her old friends.

"Wow so you made it into Levi's squad, how is that?" Sasha asked as she walked up to her comrade.

"It's boring and I'm treated like a child," she answered honestly with a sigh.

"But still you've been able to be a scout for the last two weeks you're so lucky," Sasha said trying to encourage the girl which forced Alex to smile at the brunette girl.

"Yes you're right," she said, not wanting to inform the girl that she had been stuck on cleanup duty and was being baby sat like she was some child. Glancing around she spotted the short captain standing back and watching as if waiting for Eren.

"It was really good to see everyone again. But we don't have time to catch up. Eren wrap it up!" She yelled over at Eren drawing the boys attention to her before she glanced over at their captain causing Eren to look over at the short man who was waiting on them and looked bored and unpleased, then again he always looked that way.

"Okay okay I'm coming," he said before trotting back over to her leaving Jean standing back.

"We have business to get back to. It was nice seeing everyone again, till next time," she said smiling warmly at her friends before turning to walk toward her captain hearing Eren wish Mikasa and Armin a goodbye before he ran after her.

The two were greeted with a bored glare from their captain but he didn't say anything as he turned and started to lead the way back into the castle with the two kids in tow softly chatting as Alex asked Eren if he was happy to see his friends in the scouts.

"They seem like they're really close," Connie said out loud, which seemed to have Mikasa scuff at the thought of Eren gaining another close female friend. Others simply nodded their head silently agreeing with Connies words.

"It's to be expected. They are teammates... and Alex treats Eren the same as she always has. The same can not be said for how the rest of the team surely treats him," Armin said softly as his blue eyes watched the two walk away from the group and thinking over Connie's comment. It didn't take a genius to assume or notice that people around Eren did not treat him like a normal person. But the blonde girl did, she didn't seem to treat him any different than if they were still back in the training Corp. It made sense the two would grow closer when she was the only person around Eren who treated him like a normal person.

"Come on let's get going," Jean said simply as he started to walk away drawing everyone's attention as they nodded and followed after him. After all they were bound to all run into each other again now that they were all scouts.


	15. Chapter 15

Alex scowled softly as she found herself once again sitting on the captain's couch filling out a fresh journal Hange trading her for the one she had filled in the last nearly two weeks. Once again there was not much change in the day to day events. Eren was still the same idiot who had little control of his powers. Alex added in her own thoughts to the kid and his abilities. It seemed to her that there had to be a way for him to trigger his abilities. Exactly what the trigger was still had the woman curious. She sat on the couch tapping her pencil against the journal. She wasn't sure what else to write but had little desire to just sit on Levi's couch as his lantern lit the room.

She scowled softly to herself as she sat on the couch bored and tried to look busy still. Otherwise she would surely end up the captain's maid again and have to make tea again. She couldn't even try and clean his room as the captain kept the place incredibly spotless. It simply ate away at her that Levi was treating her like a child as she sat on the couch. She hated the thought of being treated like a kid. She was an adult and hated being treated as a child. People always treated her like a child because of her height and it irritated her. Unknown to her Levi had noticed her tapping her pencil against the open pages of her journal as she was bored.

"If you're finished with your work, come here," Levi said, breaking the near silence of the room. Alex glanced over at the captain as he continued to write over a piece of paper in front of him. She was hesitant as she closed the journal and placed it on the couch before she moved to stand up off the couch. She dragged her feet as she moved to stand in front of the captain's desk and waited as she watched his hand and pen moving over the paper. It felt like she had been standing there for hours, but really it had only been minutes at best as she stood there in front of his desk. She struggled not to want to tap her foot on the floor before she finally watched Levi put his pen down and lift his gaze to look at her. Those hard eyes felt like they locked onto her and her mouth went dry.

"Here, sort through these for me, if you're capable enough," he said sliding a small stack of papers across the desk towards her. She was pretty sure she felt her eye twitch as she glared down at him.

"I'm not a child," she hissed softly as she reached out to grab the stack of papers. But her hand paused as she watched a dark shadow cross over her captain's face.

"Could have fooled me the way you act," he growled back at her. The tension in the room grew heavy as it felt like he was just daring her to say something back to him. Levi was not accustomed to his subordinates talking back and acting out like she did. Hange and Erwin were the only two people who would dare to even be open and friendly with the man who held the title of humanity's strongest soldier.

"Maybe if you didn't treat me like a child I wouldn't act like one," she hissed returning the glare as she knew she was already in too deep to apologize and crawl away. Running with her tail between her legs had never been her thing. Even as Levi stood up from his seat and walked around the desk to stand before her, she refused to back down. But still she felt nervous as she licked her lips as her mouth went dry. She noticed Levi's eyes dart down to her lips watching as her tongue ran over her bottom lip before they moved back up to her big brown eyes. Why was it that her big brown eyes just seemed to draw him in behind the odd loose strand of bright blonde hair that fell around her face.

"Well then show me you're a proper adult," was the soft reply Levi gave after what was only a minute but had felt much longer as they stood there staring each other down. He stepped back and slid the papers towards her once again, "get back to work cadet."

"Yes sir," was the whisper of a reply she gave as she felt her cheeks growing red as she looked up at her captain before grabbing the stack and turning quickly to head back to the couch as she could still feel Levi's eyes on her as she walked away. Fuck what the hell was that? She felt out of breath as her heart was racing as she walked. Fuck her head was spinning as she sat back down and couldn't bring herself to look back at Levi even once she heard his boots against the floor as he made his way back to his chair at his desk.

Alex had looked death in the face and fought on and yet one look from her captain had her body reacting in a completely different manner. One she was not at all accustomed to as she sat there trying to catch her breath as if she had just run a marathon. The leather straps that sat over her chest suddenly felt incredibly tight and constricting as she felt herself softly tug at the leather strap as she tried to calm her breathing before Levi could notice. She tried to turn her attention over to the paperwork that sat on her lap as she tried to read over the papers but it was hard. Her mind was in a fog as she tried to comprehend what her eyes were reading. She wanted to curse at herself for the state the man was able to leave her in after only some words and a hard stare. Finally after staring at the same piece of paper for what had to be a solid five minutes she finally placed the paper down to her right giving up on trying to read the peace of paper in her hand.

Levi sat back in his chair as he watched the flustered cadet sitting on the couch. He had noticed her flustered cheeks and the quickening of her breath. Oddly he found it entertaining to sit back and watch the girl sit on the couch trying to calm herself. He watched one of her small slender fingers move up to tug at the leather strap that covered her chest. Even though she had a number of minutes to calm down it seemed the poor girl was still struggling to regain her composure as she sat there staring at a single piece of paper she held in her hand. Levi had to hold back the urge to chuckle as he watched the girl and saw how flustered she was. Why was it he found watching the woman rather entertaining as she sat on the couch and struggled to read the papers he had given her.

Alex had not even noticed that Levi had been watching her as she sat on the couch struggling to regain her composure and self control as she sat there. Finally she was able to at least piece together what the papers were saying as she started to sort them into two piles. One was for the new scouts. The other was about the mission coming up only two weeks away. It seemed easy enough to sort the two stacks before she stood up one stack carefully balanced in each hand as she walked over the desk and placed the two stacks down carefully.

"There you go sir," she said as she took a step back from his desk not liking the idea of being too close to him after what had happened less than an hour ago. As his eye drifted up to look at her she found her eyes drifting down to the paper she had carried over to his desk. She shifted her weight from foot to foot unable to help the uncomfortable feeling of standing before him under his gaze.

"Good then you're dismissed. I expect you to head straight to your bedroom and remain there till morning," He said simply as if the earlier event had never even happened. He was unfazed by his own actions or her reactions.

"Yes captain Levi," she said quickly saluting her captain before nearly running out of his room. Her heart raced hearing him talk to her. She knew his words should have irritated her as he still treated her like a child telling her to not leave her room as if she was grounded. But she couldn't even bring herself to be mad as she panted softly as soon as she was out of his room. She felt like she was in a daze as she walked back towards her bedroom. She shivered remembering the feeling of his eyes on her body when he had stood in front of her. Nothing had even really been said? They had been arguing then all the sudden she had lost her will to argue with him. Those steel grey eyes of his were able to extinguish whatever spark of disobedience she had with a simple glance. She growled softly not happy with the way her body reacted to something as stupid as a glance. And yet why was it that it felt like his words had a completely different meaning to them when he asked her to show him she could be an adult? Fuck this was frustrating now as she stormed into her bedroom closing her door. She groaned softly as she realized she had been so distracted she had left the journal Hange had given her sitting on Levi's couch. A part of her knew she should go back and retrieve the journal. But she also knew she had been told to stay in her room. Fuck it, she would be back there the next evening so she could retrieve the journal then rather than risk possibly pissing off her captain. She pushed the thought of journal from her mind not wanting to worry about it. After all it didn't matter she was done with it for the night and her captain wouldn't harm the journal, she doubted he would even notice it. She made her way to her bed but her body felt uneasy. She itched to move and didn't feel tired at all. A shiver ran up her back as she wondered what she could do. She doubted her captain would like it if she made any noise as well. She sighed and sat on her tough bed and glanced over at another journal she had. She reached over and grabbed it opening the empty unused book. The oil lamp on her nightstand by the bed gave off a soft glow as she sat back against the wall on her bed. With a pencil in hand the pencil started to softly run over the paper needing something to distract her wondering brain.

She wasn't sure how long she drew for, her wrist started to ache a little and her eyelids grew heavy. Her head was rolling down as she started to nod off as she was sitting up. She knew she should of put the book down and her pencil and lay down. But now it seemed to late. She was to tired as her head leaned back against the wall and her eyes closed to let sleep take over as she sat on her bed leaned back against the wall.

She slept till a bang at her door jolted her awake as she jumped from her bed, the book hitting the ground with her pencil that had both been sitting on her lap as she slept. She was still half asleep as she opened her door still wearing her uniform from the night before. Her pants and shirt were wrinkled, her hair was a knotted mess as she opened the door to be greeted with the all too familiar green eyes of Yeager.

"Sorry to wake you but you missed breakfast and captain Levi sent me to check on you," he said watching the young woman blink her half open eyelids as her sleep fogged brain struggled to process the sight of Eren standing before her or his words. She blinked her eyes a few times before she realized Eren was standing in front of her.

"Huh? Oh shit! What time is it," she yelled out turning and running into her room leaving the door open allowing Eren to watch as Alex ran to the night stand to grab her hair brush trying to force it through her tangled hair quickly which caused her to wince and curse every time she hit a knot. As she tried to brush her hair and straighten herself out. She didn't even notice that Eren had followed after her into her room since she left the door open and it seemed she didn't plan to change from her wrinkled slept in uniform. It wasn't till she suddenly heard Eren's soft, "what's this?"

"Wait hold on!" She yelped out her face going bright red as she watched Eren pick up the journal that had fallen to the floor. She jumped at Eren trying to grab the journal from him but the idiot was quick to step out of the way. After all his grades in hand to hand combat was twice as good as hers there was no way she would be able to forcefully take the journal from him.

"Is this Captain Levi?" He asked, smirking widely as he held the leather backed book in his hands glancing over top of it to watch her as she tried to take the journal from him.

"It is not!" She growled as if her words would somehow change the fact that she had spent the night drawing a portrait of the short captain sitting at his desk like he had been while she was in his room.

"Oh I think it is," he teased, smirking as he watched her as her face turned bright red before she gave up on attempting to remove the book from Eren's hands.

"So what if it is? I was simply bored last night," she hissed softly trying to now play it off.

"Well your subject of choice aside, you're really talented," he said complementing the woman's drawing as he once again glanced down at the drawing. Giving up on her hair and turning her back to Eren unable to meet his gaze now she grabbed a hair tie off her desk tossing her hair up into a ponytail and then a messy bun not wanting to spend any more time trying to fix her messy long blonde hair.

"You said I missed breakfast so we better hurry and get to the stables before the captain gets any more irritated," she said, wanting to change the subject as she turned to make her way out of the room. Eren took one last glance at the drawing before placing the book on her night stand and took off trotting after the girl as she left her room. Her face was still flushed and every time she looked over at Eren she watched a small smirk tug at the boys cheeks. Fuck he wasn't gonna let her live this down was he?


	16. Chapter 16

Eren followed the blonde out to the stables where the horses were standing impatiently awaiting their breakfast that was rather late. And yet the knickers that greeted her were somewhere heartwarming. At least someone other than Yeager wanted her company. 

Alex couldn't bring herself to look at Eren worried he would start to tease her for her drawing of the captain. While she wasn't wrong about the boy truly did want to tease her about it but bit his tongue the best he could fighting back the urge to snicker every time he glanced over to watch her as she fed each horse while he followed behind starting to muck out the stalls. Though his snickers didn't go unnoticed by the blonde before her head finally snapped up to look over at the brunette boy. 

"If you want to laugh you may as well go ahead and get it over with," she barked at him which forced him to toss his head back and laugh unable to help himself any more. She glared at him till he finally calmed down after a moment of laughing like an idiot. 

"You done?" She growled the question at him, her brown eyes became slits as she glared at him. 

"Yeah, yeah I think I'm good now," he said as he calmed down from his laughing fit. She continued to glare daggers at the kid. 

"But come on. The captain? Really?" He asked arching an eyebrow at her as his green eyes shimmered playfully as he teased her lightly. 

"He was the last person I saw and as I said earlier I had been bored," she said not wanting to admit the man had been the one on her mind keeping her from the bliss of sleep. 

"Uhhu so you couldn't think of anyone else to draw?" He questioned her trying to pry into her reasoning as to why she had drawn the short haired captain first. 

"Awe what's the matter are you jealous I drew a portrait of the captain?" She asked, smirking as she returned the smirk now being able to tease him as he had been teasing her, "maybe if you ask nicely I'll draw a photo of you." 

"Ha like I'm jealous," Eren scuffed as she turned his teasing around on him as he turned his attention back to the stable he was cleaning. 

Now it was Alex's turn to snicker and laugh as she noticed that Eren seemed a bit flustered when she started to tease him. Serves him right for teasing her first. 

"Don't worry I'll draw you some time. I'll get you to model for me and everything" she laughed lightly enjoying the sight of Eren blushing and mumbling as he scooped up horse poop. Eren's green eyes glanced over to watch the girl laugh lightly as she told him she would get him to model even as she picked up a bucket of grain and started to the next stall feeding another horse before moving on to the next leaving him behind in the stall to clean up. 

"Hurry up Eren you're taking too long," she called out as she grabbed a pitchfork before walking into a different stall and started cleaning it since Eren seemed to still be standing in the same stall from their conversation. 

"Yeah yeah I'm going," the boy called out as he quickly finished up the stall he was in before moving to the next. 

It didn't take the two long to get the stables all cleaned and the horses fed and good for the day. Leaving the stable she glanced over to spot Oluo leaning against a wall of the castle watching the duo as they cleaned the stalls. 

"Is Hange stopping by today?" She asked, glancing over at Eren as they started to walk towards the castle. Alex could hear her stomach growling. She hoped to grab something to eat before she started cleaning up with Eren. 

"Huh oh I don't know," he answered after a second of pause. Alex simply nodded her head. 

"Head up the stairs and start cleaning. I wanna see if there's anything in the kitchen I can sneak for a snack before I join you," she said, flashing him an innocent looking smile as he sighed and shook his head at her. 

"Don't get caught rummaging the supplies or the captain won't be pleased," he warned remembering the amount of times they had seen Sasha being punished for stealing food. 

"I'll just see if there's some bread left over from breakfast," she said before she parted ways leaving Eren to go upstairs as she carefully tried to sneak along the hall before slipping into the mess hall. She missed breakfast and had hopes that there would be left overs still. She couldn't help it as she was hungry after missing breakfast and lunch felt too far away or at times was even missed. She didn't see anyone in the mess hall as she made her way to the kitchen. Still not seeing anyone she glanced around trying to see if she could find a chunk of bread to eat or really anything she could eat. She was glancing around the kitchen not seeing anything that she could eat. Damn it! She wanted to curse before the sound of the door opening had her jump and turn to face the captain who arched an eyebrow at the woman coming face to face with her. Once again she cursed herself out for getting caught. 

"Oh good morning captain," she said, giving him a weak smile as he looked skeptical at her. 

"You better not be in here looking for food," he said simply as he eyed her up as she was standing in the middle of the room. 

"Not at all captain I was simply grabbing myself a drink. Maybe make some tea for me and Eren before we started cleaning," she said flashing him an innocent smile as she stood before him. Her pulse started to race unsure if it was because she had been caught nearly red handed and could be punished or if it was simply the sight of the man that caused her pulse to race and her breathing to quicken. Levi looked as stoic as always making it hard to tell if he could see through her little lie or not. 

"But I guess we should just get straight to cleaning. So I better go make sure Eren's doing a good job," she said before trying to run past the dark haired man who was standing in her way of the door to get out of the kitchen. But she couldn't get past the man as his hand shot out grabbing her arm stopping her dead in her tracks. Her stomach dropped at the feel of her captain's fingers wrapped around her arm. A shiver ran up her back as she expected a scolding from her superior. She froze as she looked over at her captain as his hard grey eyes glanced over at her as his hand held her firm. The two remained frozen for a moment as his hand held her arm. 

"I don't believe I excused you cadet," his tone was firm as his eyes locked onto hers and she quickly found her eyes looking down at her feet. 

"Sorry sir," she said softly as she suddenly was unable to look over at him. Her ears felt warm as did her entire face as she nibbled her bottom lip and remained frozen in place even when Levi let go of her arm. 

"Look at me cadet," he ordered, his tone stern, there was no way she could disobey as she forced her eyes up to look into his. Her breath hitched and she struggled to remind her body to breath. Fuck why the hell did her body have to react in such a way. She was finding it annoying have she was now suddenly nervous to be around her captain. The way her body tensed and heated up at the simple sight of the man. And she was convinced that he was aware of the way she reacted to him. 

"There's no need to go running off. You wanted some tea then go ahead and make some," he said simply as his eyes watched her as she shivered softly under her gaze. 

"Would you like some tea as well?" She asked as she turned on her heel and moved to grab a kettle putting it on the stove as she started to wait for the water to boil. 

"Yes," he said simply as he stood back against a wall watching her as she started to prepare for the tea. She simply nodded her head grabbing three tea cups from a cupboard and looked for a simple light midday tea blend deciding on a simple green tea. With the water in the kettle starting to boil and whistle at her she turned to the kettle before adding the hot water to a teapot and over the tea leafs in the filter before leaving it to steep for a moment as she put the kettle back on the stove to cool. She couldn't bring herself to look over at Levi as she could feel his eyes on her every move. 

The feeling of his gaze on her was enough to nearly make her hands shake. As she grabbed the teapot and started to fill the three cups. With the captains cup in hand she turned and started towards him. Now was the worst part as she had to look up at her captain as she offered him the cup. 

"Here you go sir," she said softly trying to force a small smile even though a shiver ran down her back she offered him the cup waiting for him to take it before she nearly spun on her heel to run back to the counter to grab her cup and Eren's. In a split second Levi found himself glaring at one of the cups cursing at it. If she didn't have to take a cup for Yeager he could have ordered her to stay. He simply nodded his head softly as a thanks as he reached out and took the cup. His fingers glanced over hers as he took the cup from her hands. He watched her body tense as their fingers glanced. 

Alex almost couldn't pull her hands away fast enough at the electric shock like feeling she felt shoot through her as she felt the captain's fingers glanced over hers as he took the cup from her. Hell she almost thought she was going to drop the cup the second his fingers glanced hers. With the nod of his head that was all she needed to turn and nearly run from him. Scooping up Eren's cup with her own she turned to the captain. 

"Well then if you need anything captain me and cadet Yeager will be upstairs cleaning," she said as she held a cup in each hand and flashed her captain a smile before she tried to get out of the kitchen as fast as she could. As soon as she left the same room as him she took a shaky breath as she felt like she could finally breathe. Why the hell did her body have to react so much? In ways it was irritating that her body would suddenly react as if even just the sight of the man sent her heart a racing. She took deep breaths as she walked up stairs to find Eren cleaning a room, he paused when she walked in. 

"What's up with the tea?" Eren asked as he arched an eyebrow at the blonde. 

"Captain caught me in the kitchen. I lied and said I was gonna make us tea so I had to cover my ass," she said softly flashing him a wide innocent smile as she walked up and offered the boy one of the tea cups in her hands. 

"Haha I warned you," Eren teased as he laughed lightly as he took the cup she was offering before taking a sip enjoying the flavoured water. 

"Well he didn't punish me so he must have believed I was there to make tea," she said softly with a slightly cocky smirk as she shrugged her shoulders not worried as she sipped at her tea enjoying the taste and warmth. It helped soothe her a little as she found her eyes drifting shut as she sipped at the hot water. 

"Well then you're lucky," Eren said as he sipped his own tea slowly.

"You can say that again," she hummed softly agreeing with him. She was still a bit confused as she thought over her encounter with the captain in the kitchen. He couldn't have called her out on her lie or even question her more. But he never did, he let her lie and then leave. Then again she was stuck spending the late evenings alone with him he could then call her out on her lie. Damn it as the thought of being punished late sent a shiver down her spine and fear made her start to sweat. She was not looking forward to spending the evening being babysat by a man who could be planning a way to punish the insubordinate cadet. She almost groaned as she finished her tea and started to slowly clean the room hoping the day would drag on.


	17. Chapter 17

The days had felt so boring as it seemed all Alex did was clean up and they were starting to mesh together in her head. Fuck she hated how bored she was getting during the day. She only went out on patrol when it was with Eren and the captain. Which felt so rare at the moment. She also spent the odd day watching Hange nerd out over Eren as they all struggled to understand the boy and his powers. Though it was interesting to see the team slowly start to accept the boy even going so far one night at dinner to bite their own hands like Eren did when he tried to trigger his powers. The team even seemed to be opening up to Alex as well. Petra was the first, which made sense with the two being the only women on the squad it made sense the two would get along. But she even noticed some of the other team members trying to hold up some small chat with both her and Eren.

It had made the meals a little nicer as Alex found herself actually being included, at least a little. The team actually seemed to be growing closer as her first outing as a scout was quickly approaching. But she also noticed that the air started to shift the last week around the scouts. Hell she even noticed one of the random men flirting with her when she was out feeding horses. It had felt odd seeing people going out of their way to chat with her during the day.

But the hardest part of the days she found was when she was stuck sitting on the couch in her captains room. She hated the way her heart would race when the two were alone. She would try to take as long as she could filling in the journal for Hange but that didn't take long. It was the same day after day as Eren didn't seem to be a threat and her option on him did not change. But she quickly found herself taking her little journal with her that she was filling with sketches of those around her. She had the drawing of Levi at his desk, simple head shots of the team lined a couple pages. She even had a drawing of Eren she had him pose for in a fighting stance he had to hold for an entire afternoon that he whined about but she liked the image and even Eren seemed impressed after seeing the image. Tonight she was working on an image of the team sitting at the dinner table. She was so busy sketching out the image from her mind she had not even noticed that Levi had stood up from his desk and walked around the back of the couch to lean over her shoulder.

"You're talented," he said into her ear as she jumped her pencil flying from her hands as she let out a small scream. She had never even noticed him move. Large brown eyes turned to look over at him and she swore for a moment she saw a twinkle in her captain's eye after the sight of how badly he had scared her.

"Jesus Christ," she hissed under her breath as she turned her head to try and glare at the man who had just scared the hell out of her.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people sir," she said as her face continued to heat up as she realized how close his face was to hers as he had been watching her reaction.

"I didn't. I called out to you a number of times and you never answered," he said as he watched her face fill with colour assuming embarrassment from the scare from him.

"Oh," she mumbled softly now even more embarrassed knowing she could have avoided the situation she found herself in as she sat there, her face only inches from his. She felt her face was hot, her skin crawled and her body tingled. Fuck she hated the way she couldn't stop her body from reacting to just his presence.

"What did you need, captain?" She asked struggling to keep her voice from shaking as she looked away from the captain trying to see where her pencil had gone flying after she tossed it away when he startled her. She couldn't even see it, great she lost her pencil in her captain's office.

"It's getting late," he said simply as he finally leaned back and away from her. Honestly Levi was going to dismiss her but she never answered when he called out to her. He had gotten curious what she was doing that had her so distracted. He looked over her shoulder to see a rather yell drawn sketch of the team sitting at the dinner table. With him at the head of the table and the team lined up on either side enjoying their meal and chatting. It was a bit odd to see what the team had looked like from a different perspective. He noticed she had not added herself into the photo. Odd but then again he doubted she drew herself often.

"Oh is it?" She asked softly to herself as she looked around unable to find the damn pencil. Placing the journal down she stood up looking for the pencil. Levi took this chance to grab the journal curiosity getting the best of him as he flipped through the book taking in the sight of his team. She had ended up looking under the couch as she couldn't see the pencil anywhere else. Even then she still couldn't find the damn thing it wasn't even under the couch. At this rate she was going to have to see if it got stuck in the wall or something. She sat up on the floor to look up at Levi as he was looking down at her book of drawings. He had flipped through the pages of her drawing and she felt panic take over as she knew the very first drawing was the one she had done of the captain sitting at his desk. The one that days ago Eren had teased her about, hell the kid still did. She froze, feeling panic grip at her as she watched Levi look through the drawings.

"Sir!" She struggled not to cry out as she looked at him with wide brown eyes and panicked that he would come across the drawing of him she had made. He paused surprised to hear her cry out at him.

"What I'm admiring your work," he said simply not sure why she seemed so scared as she looked at him with wide eyes and most likely wanted to rip the book from his hands. With the flick of a wrist he was aware of what she had wanted to stop him but worried about his authority. There on the first page of the book sat a rather well drawn image of him. Sitting at his desk working. It was an image of him she saw a lot of in the last week. A part of him at the time truly didn't connect the dots that he was the first thing she had drawn in the book and that she drew everyone else so it wouldn't look odd that she had two photos with him in them. He simply blinked his eyes taking in the great amount of detail she added to the image. Even including his tea cup that often sat on the desk with him as he worked. And yet Alex felt mortified that Levi had seen the drawing of him she did. She suddenly felt the urge to see if she could crawl under the couch that sat between them and hide from her captain. She watched him place the journal down and shrug his shoulders softly as he looked down at the girl that was sitting on his floor with wide eyes and a beat red face. Alex couldn't even bring herself to look down at her journal now or at her captain.

"So then am I dismissed sir?" She asked softly as she chewed on her bottom lip drawing Levi's gaze over to her before he turned and started to walk his way back to his desk.

"Yes your dismissed cadet," he said as he sat back down in his chair and started to work on the papers before him once again.

"Thank you sir!" She said jumping to her feet and saluting him before she grabbed her books and nearly ran for the door. As soon as the door behind her closed she felt her legs go limp beneath her as she slowly slid down the door. Her face still felt so warm as she tried to calm herself down. Geez why the hell did Levi have to look through her drawings. She felt so embarrassed as she hugged the books to her chest tightly. She noticed Levi had not said anything and she tried to rationalize with herself that he completely didn't think anything of the image like Eren had or really like any other person would but still she couldn't believe he had seen the drawing of himself. She sighed before she forced herself to her feet, she groaned and whined to herself as she dragged her feet back to her bedroom.

Once back in her room she changed into her nightgown before crawling under the blanket on her bed. She curled up and pulled the blanket over her head as she screamed into her pillow. Ugh she just wanted to curl up under her bed and hide away from the world. She wanted to sleep but her mind wouldn't calm down as the panic and embarrassment stayed with her all night. Keeping her from getting any actual sleep as she tossed and turned the night away. In the end she gave up forcing herself to get up and go bathe before getting dressed. Too tired to do anything with her hair she left the long blonde locks loose as she made her way to the stables deciding to start there as she waited for breakfast.

Oddly Alex still found the stable way to welcoming as the horses welcomed her with warm knickers even if they just wanted food from her. She started to feed them, not overly concerned that it was a good bit earlier than normal. She enjoyed the company of the horses, even if the team was warming up to her she still found the horses to be nicer company as she would stand there talking to them as she would pet them. It was oddly soothing as she pulled her horse from its stall and softly started to brush the large mare as she whined and complained about her bad luck the night before. Though the horse couldn't offer any advice or words of comfort Alex still found it nice to unload her thoughts as she ran the soft brush over the horses silky coat as it stood tied its head dropped and eyes half closed enjoying the attention it was receiving as the sun started to break over the horizon. Alex sighed dreading the fact that she would have to see the captain again too soon. Putting her horse back into its stall she slowly started to make her way towards the mess hall. She was once again dragging her feet as she walked into the mess hall seeing Petra finishing with breakfast as Alex walked over towards her.

"Good morning Alex," Petra greeted her as she offered the woman a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast.

"Good morning Petra. Thanks," she said, returning the smile at the older woman.

"Your up really early?" Petra said arching an eyebrow as the two turned to walk over towards the table they always ate at.

"I couldn't sleep. Figured it was better to just get up and get started with the day," Alex answered honestly though not telling her why she couldn't sleep.

"I was gonna say you look like you haven't slept," the woman said with a giggle having noticed the bags under the blondes eyes this morning. And the fact that Alex often was the last person awake usually someone had to go wake her up, usually it was Eren who was nice enough to go get her up otherwise she would miss breakfast.

"Well at least I'm not missing breakfast this time," Alex said lightly as she grabbed a spoonful of food and plopped it into her mouth. She wanted to eat as fast as she could and get out of the mess haul before the captain showed up.

As if to curse herself just as the thought crossed her mind the door opened and in walked Levi dragging along a half asleep Eren. Though it was Eren who seemed the most surprised to see Alex at the table early.

"Oh your up early Alex," Eren called out running up to the table as everyone else started to file into the mess hall.

"Yeah I got tired of missing breakfast," Alex said lightly with a giggle as she continued to eat her breakfast joking about the fact she was up early for a change. Eren grabbed a bowl of his own breakfast before sitting down beside her as he usually did at meal time.

"And yet you don't look like you got any sleep," Eren called her out as he noticed her lack of care for her hair or that she had bags under her eyes.

"I didn't sleep great. Must have too much energy I need to clean more during the day," she said lightly which had Eren chuckle lightly and shake his head at her as the two ate their breakfast. Alex couldn't even bring herself to glance over at Levi as she struggled not to instantly blush and become nervous as she sat at the same table. But she welcomed Eren's company as she sat there chatting with him as they ate their breakfast. Eren may not have known but he was a nice helpful distraction as he chatted helping Alex keep her captain off her mind the best she could as the day went on. Levi on the other hand had noticed Alex ignoring him and trying to keep her distance. And he couldn't understand why, the fact that her embarrassment from the night before flew over his head. He had not at all realized the girl was embarrassed for having a drawing of him in her sketchbook. He was completely confused as to why the woman spent the day avoiding him to the best of her abilities, nearly running from any room he entered that she was in. He couldn't even confront the woman as she spent the day running from him.


	18. Chapter 18

Alex spent the day running from her captain. She knew it was bad and that at the end of the day rather literally she was going to be stuck spending time with the man but still she avoided him as much as she could. And she knew at some point she was going to be stuck in his office or bedroom whatever he called it. Though it was supposed to be his bedroom he treated it far more like an office even having his desk nearly in the middle of the room. It was clear the man treated the room like his office.

Levi had tried to talk with the woman a few times during the day and to his irritation she ran from him. But he knew at the end of the day she would continue her punishment for disobeying him earlier. He just had to wait but that didn't sooth his growing irritation with her and her childish antics. Even by the time dinner rolled around and they were sitting at the table eating, Alex was chatting with Eren as usual. She refused to look over at the man who sat at the head of the table as she ate her food and talked lightly with everyone else around her. But she was eating her meal slowly not wanting dinner to end and knew she would be stuck alone with Levi shortly after. Damn it why did she sneak out with her ODM gear and get caught. Had Alex known this would happen later she would never have taken her gear out and practiced.

Levi was sitting in his office working at his desk when the expected knock at his door finally came.

"It's cadet Racher," Alex called out softly after she knocked on the door and waited to be invited into his room.

"Come in," he called out, not looking up from his papers as he listened to the door open and close softly as she didn't make a sound as she scurried to his couch. Or so she tried to but she never made it the couch as a hand suddenly shot out and stopped her. She never even noticed Levi get up from his desk. Then again she was trying to ignore him the best she could and pretend he did not exist but it was hard. But this time it had been a downfall trying to pretend the man didn't exist. She never noticed him move to grab her. She froze as she looked over at him and her face had already started to heat up.

"You've been ignoring me," he growled softly at her as his hand on her arm stopped her from being able to run away from him, there was even a slight questioning tone to his voice.

"Have I?" She asked softly, almost unable to force herself to say anything as she looked up at him as she took in a shaky breath.

"Do not think I'm blind I have noticed you have been ignoring and avoiding me," he said in a low tone as his eyes became slits.

"Sorry sir," she said softly as she tried to step back away from him as best she could though his grip on her arm didn't loosen at all. Actually her act of trying to step away from him caused him to pull at her arm nearly making her stumble as she struggled not to fall into him. Though she wasn't able to stop herself as she found herself falling into the man's chest as her braces against his chest the best she could since he still held her one arm. She squeaked softly as her left hand pressed against his chest. Even through the material of his shirt she could feel the strong muscles underneath the material. Levi had not anticipated to pull her so hard when she tried to move away, but he wasn't about to apologize as he listened to the little noise of surprise come from her. Her brown eyes were locked on her hand and the feeling of Levi's chest under her hand had her heart skip a beet.

"Why must you always act so childish? Brat," he mumbled glaring down at her, still irritated from being ignored, completely unaware that the poor woman was nearly having a mental breakdown as she struggled to remember to breath. But the comment of being called childish and a brat snapped her from her trance as she looked up at Levi and glared at him.

"How many times do I have to say I am not a child," she hissed softly irritated, she always hated being seen as younger than she was thanks to her height.

"Really? You say you're not a child then choose childish antics," Levi pointed out with the memory of her avoiding him all day. She growled softly to herself, he wasn't completely wrong it was a bit childish running from him. But what else was she supposed to do? She couldn't exactly talk to anyone about her feelings. So there was no one she could ask how to better deal with her emotions. They had never been such an issue but now she found herself unable to control her emotions.

"Anyone would choose to run from you after last night!" She growled softly at him which in turn had him raise an eyebrow. Last night? What had happened last night? He scared her and looked through her drawings.

"I simply startled you. I don't see why you had to run from me all day," he said simply confused on what the problem was. Alex was now as confused as he was as she realized he truly didn't think anything about seeing the drawing of himself in her book. He was still completely oblivious to her feelings towards him or the fact that she had been watching him long and hard sitting at his desk as he worked. She watched him so much she was able to make the drawing from memory.

"Oh uhm just pretend today didn't happen then," she mumbled looking down once again embarrassed that clearly he did not think anything of her so much so that he didn't even suspect that she had been admiring and watching him that she was able to put so much detail into any image she created with him. Levi on the other hand was completely confused with the girl and oblivious to the feelings she held for him. He had learned long ago how to push away any and all emotions, he also didn't ponder over his feelings or why his eyes would always wander over to the woman any time they were in the same room.

"I will not be doing that. I find your childish antics rather annoying," he said bluntly, drawing her eyes up towards him as they became slits and she glared up at him but tried hard to bite her tongue.

"Then punish me and get this over and done with," she growled softly as she pushed back against his chest trying to put a little distance between them as she found herself wanting to lean in and inhale the soft scent of sweet tea that lingered on the man. Levi was a bit surprised to hear the girl just tell him to punish her and get it over and done with. But he really had not thought over how he would do that. Clearly treating her like a kid in a time out and being baby sat had not done the job. She still chose to act like a child in his eyes and it irritated him for some odd reason.

"Fine then," he said letting go of her arm allowing her to quickly step back and away from him needing to put as much distance between them as she could. Levi turned and started to walk around the couch. He softly indicated for her to follow as he walked. She was hesitant as she slowly followed after him as he moved to walk around the couch before she stood there and watched him as he sat down on the couch watching her as she stood before him unsure what he was doing.

"This is a personal option. But I believe pain to be the best way to train someone," Levi said as he sat on the couch looking up at the girl who went pale as she stood before him hearing the exact same words he had spoken to Eren while he had kicked the shit out of him at the court hearing. It was easy to see the fear in her eyes as she herself easily remembered those words and the beating that Eren had taken. And for a split second she feared she may receive a similar punishment. And yet she watched Levi lean back in his seat as he watched the look of panic that washed over her as she took in his words.

She just watched Levi sit there, surely enjoying the fear and panic as he watched her try to figure out what he planned to do to her. Clearly she wasn't going to be kicked like Eren had been. But then what was he planning to do? Fear and panic was making her break out in a sweat as she stood frozen. And yet a part of her wanted to know what the hell he was planning as he sat there as calm and collected as always as she panicked.

"Come here," he said simply indicating for her to approach him. She was hesitant not wanting to approach him but she did slowly walk towards him to stand to the side looking down at him with a slightly curious look in her eye. But before she could ask what her punishment was she found long slender fingers wrapping around her wrist and in the blink of an eye she found herself falling over Levi's lap as his hand easily pulled her off balance and she landed over Levi's long legs. Alex was completely caught off guard as she found herself tossed over Levi's lap. She tried to push herself up but as she did the hand that had pulled her down suddenly found the middle of her back pushing her back down onto his lap.

"Sir?" She called out panicked as she felt incredibly flustered as she found herself in such a weird predicament. Fuck if anyone entered the room and saw her tossed over Levi's lap the way she was she would never survive the shock and embarrassment.

"If you like to act like a child I'll punish you as one. And what better way than a spanking," he said simply as his left hand pushed lightly on the middle of her back keeping her in place over his lap. Alex was shocked unable to even think of what to say in response. To be fair though Levi didn't give her a lot of time to think over the predicament she had found herself in when a sudden pain shot through her rear end.

Alex let out a cry more so of shock that the captain had actually brought his bare hand down on her ass. The sound and pain registered in her mind a second later as she still struggled to process the fact that she was bent over the dark haired man's lap as his one hand held her back and the other was nearly feeling up her ass. Okay feeling up may have not been the right word he could have been but his hand only came in contact with her rear end when he smacked his palm against her clothes ass. But still she found a part of herself enjoying the situation far too much. She knew she should not have had even the lingering thoughts or feelings about such a thing during a time she was supposed to be punished.

"Count," Levi said after the first time his hand collided with her ass.

"One," she said softly as she struggled to try and steady her breath as she found her heart racing and her breathing quick and shallow. Her entire body felt hot as her ass stung softly. The way her body was reacting to his touch was more than enough to make her once again embarrassed as she knew this was a punishment but it was not feeling like a punishment to her. Since she knew now to count with each spanking she was prepared to try and calm herself down enough so she could still speak. But that didn't make it any easier as the neck smack hit her other ass cheek once again she cried out and her body jolted at the pain.

"Two," she gasped, not even able to stop herself from panting. Which was embarrassing as she knew the panting was not simply from the pain from his hand. Hell she wished it was just the pain that had her panting and flushed. She couldn't dare admit that her body did not find this as a punishment at all. She continued to count with each smack to her ass. By the time she reached twelve she struggled to say the number he was on. Not due to pain but because she feared when she opened her mouth to call out the number she would make a noise she would surely regret. Why in the world did she find this as hot as she did? Why did the pain feel good? Damn it she knew this was a punishment but she found it way too tantalizing as she was laid out over Levi's lap, his hand on her ass even if it was to inflict pain. She bit her tongue struggling to keep the small pants and moans from being audible as her hands found themselves gripping the couch.


	19. Chapter 19

“Fifteen,” she gasped, struggling not to moan out as she squirmed softly not in pain but over the fact that her panties felt uncomfortable as they were soaked. The seam of her pants felt uncomfortable with each shift of her hips. This was torture for her and not in the way Levi had originally planned for it to be. Her body ached for more than the teasing that was being given by his hand on her ass.

Finally the final swat collided with her poor red ass as she panted her face feeling as red as her ass surely was under the white pants she was wearing. She was a wet mess as her body went limp over his lap after she called out the number twenty. Her shirt clung to her body as she was covered in a damp sweat. And her panties were rather uncomfortable as they felt damp as her core felt tight. She would never have expected to feel this way after being spanked like a child. She couldn't even be upset with being treated like a kid in the moments leading up to her predicament. She couldn't bring herself to look up at Levi, now she felt even more embarrassed as she panted softly still praying that she had not made any audible noises during her so-called punishment as it was all she could do not to moan out the numbers she had to call out.

Levi wouldn't admit that he had noticed the small little noises that she had made each time his hand had come down to meet the flesh of her round ass. He left her limp on his lap for the moment as the sound of her heavy quick breathing filled the room. Blinking her eyes, Alex realized that she was still bent over Levi's lap, his left hand softly resting up in the middle of her shoulder blades. And she wasn't sure where his right hand was but it wasn't touching her anymore. A part of her wished it was still touching her ass though her rear end was stinging as she laid limp. 

The realization that she was still limp over Levi's lap sent panic through her as she wasn't sure how long she had been laying there. He never said anything and she couldn't bring herself to look over at him. But had it been seconds? Minutes? Fuck an hour? She wasn't sure as she panicked and without a word she threw herself back words hoping to stand up quickly and turn away from him, not able to bring herself to look at the man. But she never even got her upper half straight up as she stumbled backwards and landed on the hard ground. She yelped as pain shot through her as her ass hit the ground. 

"Ow," she whined softly before blinking her eyes to look up at Levi who was looking down at her as she looked up at him from her spot on the ground. Fuck what the hell was she thinking? As usual she had tripped over her own feet during her panic causing her to fall instead of stand up. His hand that had been sitting between her shoulder blades had not stopped her from violently throwing herself off his lap. She felt even more embarrassment as she looked up at him after everything that had happened. She watched Levi slowly arch an eyebrow at her as if asking her why she was suddenly sitting on the ground. Though he could have stopped her if he wanted to but he assumed with how much force she had used she wanted to get away from him. 

“You should be more careful,” he said simply as he leaned over a little looking down at her. He crossed his right knee over the left trying to hide the fact that his pants had grown uncomfortable tight as he found himself enjoying the little moans and whimpers she had produced while he was spanking her. His palm stung slightly and was red after using his bare hand against her ass. 

“Not like I planned to fall on my ass,” she hissed under her breath but it seemed he heard her as his eyes became slits. 

“Did you not learn anything from your spanking?” He asked with a hard tone daring her to say something smart again. She didn’t need the reminder of the pain still fresh in her ass as she sat there. She looked away from him taking a shaky breath remembering feeling her core tighten at the thought of being spanked again. The thought of the spanking filled her mind as she shifted softly on the floor, her body feeling hot all over. God damn it now was not the time to be turned on. 

“Sorry sir,” she said quickly as she looked away from him unable to bring herself to meet his eyes as her entire face felt like it was on fire and even now her breath was still uneven and quick. A nagging little voice in the back of her head wanted to tell him she hadn't learnt a thing and needed another spanking. That thought nearly shivered alone knowing that she would happily crawl back over his lap. But the dreaded thought of how he didn't realize she had feelings quickly weighted down her desires to want to say anything. 

But Alex wasn't the only one who struggled with her punishment. Levi had been honest when he said that pain is the best way to train someone. Corporal punishment was often a go to form of correcting someone's behavior's. Sure he had never spammed a cadet before, nor was he sure if he wanted to after the way Alex had reacted to hers. The whimpers and gasps are first he assumed was due to the pain but he had heard the odd moan. Her body felt hot, the hand that sat on her back keeping her in place could feel the heat of her skin through the material of her shirt. Her face though mostly hidden by her long loose blonde strands had not been a face he expected to see from someone in pain. No even if he couldn't see her entire face he could tell that pain was not what she was feeling as she took her punishment. Levi would have liked to think it didn't affect him but it did. Usually such things he could push away. He focused so much on his work that he didn't enjoy such leisure activities, but he was never bothered by that. It probably didn't help that most women who were brave enough to flirt with him never had it reciprocated as he usually didn't notice when women were flirting with him.

Luckily for Levi Alex had not noticed his reaction to her spanking either. No, her attention had gone to her stinging ass as she shifted to sitting on her knees though winced every time the stiff material of her pants would scratch against her raw ass and upper thighs. The simplest shift sent pain through her rear end whether it was from her pants or her panties shifting over the sensitive skin. Levi noticed her avoiding glancing at him as she shifted herself around. Though a large part of it was the fact that she didn’t like the way her pants rubbed against her panties, her core felt tight and she felt far too sensitive. She didn’t like it, geez she couldn’t even keep her body in check and that made her face feel even hotter. 

Levi was sitting back keeping his legs crossed as his eyes watched her as she refused to look over at him. Alex had her eyes scanning the room now feeling too nervous and shy to look at him or even say a word to him. Her eyes finally landed on the leather back journal she had forgotten the night before. She hadn’t even thought about the book till it came into view and she remembered she had not filled it in for the day. It was still sitting on the couch in exactly the same spot that she had forgotten it in untouched by anyone it seemed as it sat closed on the couch beside Levi who sat silently on the couch. The silence in the room was heavy, for once Alex wanted to run her instincts wanting to get away from Levi and the awkward situation. Her fight or flight instincts seemed to kick in and for the first time she felt the need to run as she reached for the journal not wanting to forget about it again. 

Alex knew that grabbing the journal and running would only get her into more trouble but she could not keep herself from feeling the need to run from her captain. Her hand shot out to grab the book before she would take off running. But it seemed that her captain had noticed, hell maybe he read her mind and knew what she was going to do as long slender fingers gripped her wrist tightly. She froze as she whipped her head over to look at Levi who held onto her wrist tightly preventing her from being able to grab the book and take off from the room. It wasn’t hard to see the fear in her eyes as she looked up at him. She expected a scolding from him but instead the man remained silent as his hard silver eyes watched her carefully. 

“C...captain?” was the stuttered word she struggled to get out when she realized he was not going to let go of her wrist. Her breathing was irregular as she felt like she struggled to be able to inhale even a simple mouthful of air as her large brown eyes felt locked with his. Her mouth felt dry as she started to chew on her bottom lip, not even sure if she was breathing as she sat there on her knees in front of the couch. With a swift pull she found herself being pulled up onto the couch beside Levi. 

“How long were you planning to sit on the floor for?” He asked simply as if the air in the room was not heavy between the two. Alex was softly blinking her eyes at the man. Really? Really? Was the man that obtuse that he couldn’t even read the room to tell that she was having issues with how she felt her body betrayed her knowing she needed to not have such emotions towards her captain but she still couldn't completely ignore the feelings she had. Now she was simply unsure what to say to the man who didn’t seem to notice her feelings even with all he had seen. 

“The floor was more comfortable,” She shrugged her shoulders softly still struggling to calm herself down as her breath was staggered as Levi’s fingers were still wrapped around her slender wrists. Her excuse was bull shit and she was sure he was going to call her out on it but then again she wasn't sure she could comprehend how the man’s brain functioned. She was now kneeling with her left knee on the couch as he held her right hand and had pulled it back towards him. Her left hand rested on the back of the couch beside him. She was now face to face with him as he watched her with his lips in a firm line as he watched her. 

“What had I said about your childish antics?” He hissed at her softly as she had not meant to give a smart ass remark and her tone had not been sarcastic at all. But still Levi didn’t seem to enjoy her reply to his question. She took a shaken breath as her mind instantly shot back to the spanking she had just received for her smart ass answers and actions lately. 

“It was honestly my answer. I found the floor comfortable sir,” she said softly trying to cover her ass. When in reality she wanted to once again put distance between them and get away from him. Levi looked skeptical as she told him that was her honest answer, and to be honest she wished she was once again sitting on the floor as he kept her pulled close to him. She heard him click his tongue against the back of his teeth as he usually did when she noticed he was often annoyed. She was even sure she heard him mumble brat under his breath at her. 

“Do you not believe me captain?” She asked softly, even finding herself leaning in towards him with a delicate eyebrow raised at him. Levi seemed a little surprised as the woman questioned him. The way her brow arched and the odd look in her eye. She almost seemed like she was teasing him as their eyes remained locked. Levi seemed a little surprised as the woman questioned him. The way her brow arched and the odd look in her eye. She almost seemed like she was teasing him as their eyes remained locked. Tension in the air once again grew but this time but this time it was different. She didn't feel the need to run from him. No she wanted to lean in towards him, the sweet scent of tea with an underlining hint of cleaner filled her nose. Overall his scent was sweet and she found herself leaning in closer. He seemed surprised by that act as moments ago she was about ready to go running off from him. Even she wasn't sure where this new sense of bravery came from as she wired to see if he would say anything about her question.


	20. Chapter 20

Now it was Levi’s turn to be surprised as she ever so slightly leaned in towards him. The fear that had been in her eyes disappeared instead it was replaced with a playful look. One that almost seemed to dare him to try and punish her again as they both knew her excuse for why she had remained sitting on the floor was bull shit. But now he wasn’t sure he wanted to call her out. He had stopped her from grabbing the book and running off not wanting her to fear him like that. Neither of them fully expected her to become so brave so quickly. And yet Levi’s fingers continued to hold her wrist not letting go even if one of them wanted to. 

It seemed her captain didn’t have a come back for the woman as he couldn’t seem to bring himself to let go of her wrist. Finally she tried to pull her hand away from him but his grip didn’t waver even as she tried to pull away from him. It seemed he wasn’t about to let go of her wrist as she remained kneeling on the couch. Her eyes watched his stoic grey eyes remain locked on her. Unable to hold his gaze anymore she forced herself to look away. But instead of turning her head to look away she found her eyes taking in his features. His lips that often were firmly pressed together were ever so slightly parted as she noticed him breathing through his parted lips. For a split second she wondered what it would be like to feel his lips against her, the thought made her cheeks heat up. His jaw seemed a bit tense which made his strong jawline even more pronounced. Her head felt like it was swimming as her eyes trailed over his features. She needed to get away from him as her body felt like it was growing warmer and warmer. 

She needed to get away from him. She was too close as she found her face flushed and her breath staggered. She leaned back pulling herself off the couch the best she could to stand in front of him. He didn’t stop her this time as he uncrossed his legs letting her pull her wrist away but he still didn’t let go. In her rush she tried to turn away but he had her right arm still in his grasp and she had to turn to the right to get to the door. The action caused her arm to cross over her chest but as she tried to step away her arm didn’t budge as she found herself entangled among her own arm as she tried to get away from him. She didn’t even have a chance to try and rip herself away from her captain before a hand had found her right hip. She shivered feeling the hand grip her hip before she found herself being pulled backwards. 

“Captain!” She couldn’t help the squeal of surprise as she found herself being pulled back. She had hoped to land on the couch beside him but she found herself landing on his lap. Her body tensed up at the jolt of pain that shot through her when her sore ass landed on his lap. But it may not have been just the pain that made her body tense up as she found her back pressed up against Levi’s chest. She could feel the heat of his body through their clothes. 

Okay his actions had surprised him nearly as much as they surprised her. As he found himself reaching out for her when he felt her trying to pull away from him. He was internally arguing with himself knowing that this was over stepping a boundary. She was his subordinate, he shouldn’t do anything out of line. And yet he still found himself holding her against his lap not letting go knowing she would jump to her feet the second he let go of her. Or so he assumed. 

“You're too noisy,” he said simply as he spoke against her ear feeling the shiver run through her body as his warm breath tickled her ear. Still he knew he had to stop. And yet why didn’t he? He did finally let go of her wrist allowing her to remove it to pull away from him and fall back against her right hip when she pulled the arm away from him. But she didn’t jump to her feet either. Her breathing was growing heavy as she struggled to remain calm as she found herself sitting on his lap. She knew she shouldn’t look back at him and yet curiosity got the best of her as she found herself looking back over her shoulder to meet those steel grey eyes watching her every more. She felt the need to pinch herself as she felt his left hand move up to rest on the top of her left hip. Now each of her hips had one of his hands resting on them. She blushed softly and found herself shifting her weight a little which was instantly a bad idea as she felt herself grind her ass against a bulge in his pants. She had not expected that, and yet why was it that her breath hitched and core tightened. She almost wanted to do it again as she heard a hiss come from Levi as he exhaled a large lunge full of air through clenched teeth. She truly contemplated shifting again wanting to see if she would receive the same reaction from him. 

“Don’t think about doing that again,” came a low growl from behind her as if he could tell what she was thinking. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to smirk and tease him, or die of embarrassment. She settled for teasing since it seemed he was teasing her. 

“What will you do about it?” She asked, finally braving it to glance back over her shoulder as her cheeks heated up. Those stern eyes met hers as she found herself biting her bottom lip as she watched his eyes move down to her lips watching her nibble away at the soft plump bottom lip. She felt a hand slip up from her hip over her arm. She felt fingers glance along her jaw. Her eyes closed and she let out a shaky breath knowing he could hear the breath. His fingers gripped her chin tightly turning her head even further forcing her to turn her upper body to follow his hand as he turned her face towards him. She didn’t even notice she had held her breath as her eyes fluttered open to look over at him as he leaned in towards her. His lips ever so softly glanced hers as she found herself leaning in towards him as she returned the kiss. Her heart was racing, the sound of her own heartbeat seemed to fill her ears. 

Was this really happening? No surely she was dreaming as she felt Levi’s tongue glance over her bottom lip, the same one she had been chewing on nervously a moment ago. She didn’t hesitate to let her lips part granting him entrance to her mouth. His tongue was quick to start exploring her mouth and she let him before her tongue started to dance with his till finally they pulled apart both gasping for a lunge full of oxygen. Alex gasped softly for breath softly as she met Levi’s gaze as she felt his fingers slip down from her chin to feel his long fingers gently wrap around her neck as his finger tips glanced under her jaw line. She was more than happy to lean in towards him one again feeling his lips against hers. 

And yet a little voice in the back of her head yelled at her to stop such actions. She couldn’t afford to be caught kissing him, nor could she afford to let it escalate further. And yet her body refused to listen as she found herself turning around placing a leg on either side of him as she moved to now straddle his lap. Her body and head were having an argument. She tried to tell herself the captain surely wouldn’t see her as anything other than one time fling. Her feelings wouldn’t be returned. And yet what even where her true feelings? Surely it was a simple little crush. Right? And yet why didn’t she stop? Or the better question that should have crossed her mind but didn’t was why he did not stop her? Out of the million of thoughts running through her head that was not one of them. Not at that moment at least it wasn’t. Surely that question would come to haunt her mind at a later date. 

For now she found herself melting into his kiss. Her hands slowly roamed up his chest slipping over his leather belts that strung across his chest before her hands rested on his shoulders. She usually hated that she almost never wore her ODM gear or leathers the last week since she never got sent out on patrol. But in this moment she was happy to not have to worry about the leather belts that often adored their bodies as part of their uniforms. As her hands came to rest on his shoulders he felt the hand that had been lightly around her neck move around to the nape of her neck before slipping up combing his fingers through her long blond hair. The kiss broke once again so they could inhale much needed air as it seemed the both of them were feeling a bit short of breath. 

Her fingers slipped down his shoulders before she quickly and carefully slipped the leather from the buckle that sat in the middle of his chest. The leather was soft and supple making it easy for her to undo the buckle as she looked down at him with a lustful glaze over her eyes as she watched his reaction as she let go of the leather. The sound of the buckle clanking together filled the hard silence as their panting softened. Her gaze slipped over his face watching him as she unclipped the buckle of his leather gear. She had expected some kind of reaction and yet it seemed his gaze remained stoic as always. Those small grey eyes seemed unfazed as she looked down at him with lust filled eyes as her fingers didn’t stop with undoing the front buckle over his chest. Though as her fingers glanced over a button of his shirt she paused almost expecting him to stop her. But he didn’t, though she also wondered if he wanted her to continue? Well he didn’t stop her as his hands had rested on her hips. And so she continued as she felt her fingers slowly moving down his shirt popping open button after button till the final button was freed allowing the white material to fall open softly over his chest. 

She once again found herself glancing up at his face as she ripped her eyes from the glimpse of tight flesh of his toned chest. She almost wouldn’t have said he looked relaxed as he sat back into the couch. His hands softly rested on her hips. One thumb softly started to make small circles over her hip through her pants as his hands remained in place. All the while his stoic look never seemed to falter. Why did it feel like a stone had settled in her stomach? She felt the need to stop. But then again she knew she would never get the chance again like this if she stopped and he clearly wasn’t trying to stop her actions. Her mind felt like it was racing with a number of questions that seemed to play on repeat. Why her? Was it a test? Well he wasn’t stopping her, bur then again he didn’t look to be enjoying or encouraging it either? Should she really be doing this? Yes? No? She didn’t know? 

All those questions had her head spinning, or maybe it was her uneasy breathing that had her head feeling light and dizzying. And yet she slowly slipped her shaken hands under the opening of his shirt. Why did she feel so panicked? She had seen a man's body before, she had slept with a man before. None of this was new and yet why did she feel so shy and nervous all the suddenly as she slipped her hands over his tight toned flesh, feeling the grooves of his six pack as she pushed his shirt open pushing the material away as her hands slipped up till she reached his shoulders pushing everything off his shoulders. His jacket, the leather straps and his shirt fell off his shoulders as her slender fingers pushed the material over his body. Finally he moved and leaned forwards into her softly allowing the material to fall off his back and bunch behind him on the couch before he slipped his arms out of the bunched sleeve and pulled the clothes from behind them tossing them over the back of the couch. She almost laughed, not expecting Levi to allow his clothes to hit the floor of his room. And yet the simple action was enough to set her heart a flutter and sooth her racing mind a little as she realized that the man seemed to want this as much as she did. This sparked her hands as she found herself undoing the buckles of the leather straps over Levi’s thighs as she forced herself to slip back on his lap a little. She couldn’t deny her gaze had drifted up from her fingers to take in the view of the tent in the captain's tan pants as he moved to stretch his arms out over the top of the couch as his eyes watched her as she continued to work at remaking the man’s clothes. 

Levi wouldn’t have admitted it but he rather enjoyed watching the woman straddle his lap looking into his eyes with those golden brown eyes of her glazed over with an obvious lust. As she worked at removing his clothes he kept his gaze on her face watching the way her lips would part as she would exhale or inhale. The way her tongue would quickly dart out from time to time as she licked her lips as if they were incredibly dry. The feeling of her fingers delicately working drew his attention down to her hands as she moved from one thigh to the other finishing with the clips on the one leg. The thought of those slender delicate fingers wrapped around his throbbing cock nearly made the man groan as his pants only seemed to grow more uncomfortable as he ached to undo his belt and unzip his pants. Fuck it to hell with trying to hold back he couldn’t help himself as he let go do the couch not even aware he had dug his fingers into the couch as he had been watching her.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For those who haven’t noticed from the last chapter build up. This chapter is a 18+ rating full of smut. Read it at your own discretion since the rating is M. I may be quickly changing that will see how the future chapters work out.

Alex’s attention had been on undoing the buckle of his thighs that she almost didn’t even notice her captain move as she undid the lack clip pulling the leather strap out till suddenly strong fingers gripped her chin. She was suddenly looking up into those usually cold grey eyes, but this time they were not as hard and cold as normal. No they matched her own as lust seemed to glaze over the captains eyes. She froze for a second before she felt his fingers pull her in towards him as he leaned forwards off the couch a little to crash his lips against her. Alex was a bit surprised by the forcefulness of her superior as she returned the kiss. She found herself slowly crawling back up his lap as their tongues danced together. Her hands now worked at undoing the belt that sat across his lap. She almost didn’t even notice that his own fingers had now started to undo the buttons on her own shirt. He worked quickly, or maybe she had just not been paying attention as she nearly didn’t even notice her shirt was pushed open till the material fell off her shoulders. Her jacket and blouse hit the floor together as she let the material fall down her arms once she had undone the belt of his pants and her hands were free to allow the material to fall away from her body. She took this moment to lightly run her fingers down from his shoulders over his abs and down till she was running her fingers along the top of his pants. 

She looked down just in time to see his eyes glancing over her nearly naked top half. Suddenly she felt self conscious in the tight sport bra she was wearing and the typical bra she wore to everything in place while training and flying through the air with her ODM gear. It was tight and to be honest didn’t do her any favours making her look nearly flat in her every day uniform. She had never felt worried about what she wore or her own body before but suddenly she wanted to hide from his gaze as a shiver ran up her back. Her slim body felt tiny under his gaze though she had nothing to be shy of. Though a bit on the skinny side her body had been otherwise well toned with her years of training. Though she always feared people saw her as a child with her short height and youthful face. Was it because he had to be roughly ten years her senior that she paused? Or was it the concern he had seen other women, women who probably had far more mature bodies than her small dainty form? Damn it her hands had frozen and she was snapped from her mind when she heard his voice. 

“Is something wrong? Do you wish to stop?” The questions had her head snap up to look at him already shaking her head. 

“No I am sorry something had just crossed my mind was all,” she said softly dropping her eyes back down to undo the button of his pants. She could feel his fingers lingering over the soft skin of her hips as his palms rested on her pants that sat across her waist. After all the silence this was what broke it. She refused to let herself get lost in her mind and break the mood again. The captain remained as stoic as always which was all on its own a bit calming. She probably should have found it off putting but it was instead he didn’t seem bothered by her sudden free and glazed over look as she was sucked into her own head. Or maybe he was letting it slide but she wasn’t about to stop and question the man as she forced her worries into the back of her mind. 

She found herself leaning in towards him planting her lips against his as her fingers continued to undo his pants feeling his hands move to glance along the top of her pants till his slender fingers found the button of her pants undoing them with ease before nearly ripping them down her body. He didn’t seem bothered by the fact he nearly ripped the white material of her pants. Someone was a big eager and forgetting his own strength as he nearly ripped her pants off of her waist and down her thighs forcing Alex to slip off his lap to push the pants down to the top of her boots forcing her to toss them aside as well as she stepped out of the boots and her pants. Now she was left in nothing but her bra and panties. She kept her eyes on his face shivering softly under his hard gaze. Before she could even move back it seemed he thought she was waiting for something as his right hand raised up with his index finger suddenly beckoning her to come back to him. The corner of her lips tugged up as she did as he requested and moved back to straddle his lap.

Though she had undone his pants Levi’s cock was still tucked away in his boxers though the plain black material seemed to barely be containable in his pants as his cock didn’t seem to want to be contained any more. Her own panties had become soaked as they hid her wetness from view. Though it didn’t do her any good they truly didn’t hide much. Nor were they going to keep the captain's fingers from trailing down her stomach and slipping over the soft material of her panties till they found what they were looking for. She couldn’t help the mewl of pleasure that escaped her lips as a finger glanced over her folds through the wet material. An almost purr of pleasure rumbled in the captain's throat as his eyes watched the flush cover her face once Alex realized the noise she had made. 

Her breath was now coming in quick little pants as she felt her core tighten and a shiver run up her back as the finger continued to softly tease her through the material not caring as it caused her hips to softly rock into his hand as she started to softly moan. Her body ached for more than the simple teasing as she found her hips grinding into his hand. Her own hands had found themselves gripping his shoulders to help steady herself as her head felt like it was spinning a little when he first started to tease her. 

“Captain!” The whine was soft as she ground her hips against his hand. But it seemed to get the point across to what she was silently begging for as one hand nearly ripped her panties off as they pulled the material down before one finger slipped into her body. She didn’t even try to hold back the moan as she nuzzled her face into the captain's neck softly trailing kisses over his soft skin before her hands moved from his shoulders to start working at removing her bra. She sat back as her hips rocked against his hand softly as she pulled the tight material up and over her head leaving her top half exposed. Rightfully her bra was a size or two too small but she hadn’t had a chance to go buy new ones being so busy with training to make it through the to graduation and now being stuck in the old castle away from the city didn’t give her much time to exactly go shopping. The bra made her look smaller than she rightfully was but she had never noticed as it did it’s job keeping her girls where they should be and out of her way during combat. But she didn’t miss the soft arch of an eye brow from the captain. She opened her lips to ask it something was off but she never got a word out as she felt the captains unoccupied hand move up her back holding her in place as he leaned forwards not wasting a moment before taking a hard little nub between his teeth softly nibbling at the skin as he sucked. There was no containing that moan that ripped through her as she felt her hips buck against his hand as he teased her body. A second finger slipped into her body and she felt like she was going to go crazy. Her fingers found themselves combing through the captain’s hair tugging at it softly any time his fingers would brush a sweet spot inside her. 

She wasn’t sure how long her touch starved body could handle the simple teasing. As a sweat licked at her skin and an all too familiar knot was quickly growing in her stomach. Her breathing was quick and heavy as if he just had her run laps around the castle. She struggled to keep her mind clear enough to make sense of anything the man was doing to her body. Fingers in her body stroked her walls, happily teasing her sweet spot once they found it. His lips gave each nipple some attention sucking and nibbling at the soft buds one after another. She dug her teeth into her bottom lip trying to keep herself from screaming out in pleasure. The last thing she needed was someone in a nearby room hearing what was happening between her and the captain. And yet it felt like her mind was going crazy as she whimpered and moaned at the simple pleasure of the man’s fingers. 

“Captain,” she moaned softly as the tension in her stomach felt like it was going to snap at any second as her hips rocked against his hand. Her nails softly dut into the skin of his shoulders as her head rolled back and she struggled not to scream out in pleasure as the knot finally snapped sending a wave of pleasure coursing through her body as she came around his fingers. She was panting as she found herself crumpling down against his chest as his fingers slowed allowing her to ride out her orgasm before finally the fingers slipped out of her body. She whined softly as the fingers that had given her so much pleasure were taken away. Her grip on his shoulder released as she picked her head up not even realizing she had rested it along his chest as she was catching her breath. His face still seemed to stoic, and yet it was oddly reassuring as she found herself smiling softly before her hands slipped down his chest moving to once again return to the job of tugging his pants open as far as she could while straddling his lap. 

In the next second she had freed him from the restricts of his underwear as her eyes drifted down to take in the view of him free from his pants. Her fingers gently wrapped around his length giving him a few teasingly slow strokes before her eyes glanced back up to watch Levi’s head roll back as he gave a low groan at her teasing. She felt the corner of her lips tug up into a small smirk enjoying the sight of Levi’s brow as they pulled together softly, the way his face would soften in ways and wrinkle in others. It was probably the most emotion she had ever seen on the captain’s face even if it was the smallest of chances in his face. 

Alex rather loved watching the captain’s expressions as she stroked his throbbing cock. But her own burning desire for more had her softly shifting on his lap as she slowly crawled closer bringing her body flush against his. Her hand on his shaft stopped stroking him as she positioned herself above him. She paused for a second before glancing up at her captain's face to find the small grey eyes looking back at her watching her closely as she started to slowly lower herself as his tip pressed against her entrance before finally the tip slipped into her body. She gasped softly as her body hungrily craved more as she lowered herself down slowly till he completely filled her. She could feel a growl rumble in his chest as her hands reached on his chest. She could feel his hands move to grab her hips. His own fingers held tightly as she started to move her hips happily riding him. She tried to take it slow and enjoy herself as she tried to focus on her captain and the noises he was softly making as she rode his lap. 

She could feel his grip tighten slowly on her hips. He was probably going to leave small bruises on her hips but she didn’t care. There was no pain or discomfort, she couldn’t even feel his hands at the moment on her hips as she rocked her hips sending him deep within her body. The hiss that left his lips had her repeating the action till his hands pulled her back nearly off of him before forcing her back down roughly. Now it was her turn to hiss before she let out a moan of pleasure at the action. She had wanted to continue teasing him a little but seemed he had different ideas as his hands directed her hips and the speed. But she didn’t complain allowing him to lead her hips as the room filled with the sound of their bodies moving together, the heavy breathing and moans that escaped them both. 

All too quickly she felt the knot form once again. She almost wanted to curse the damn thing not at all ready for her second orgasm. And seemed Levi had noticed it as well as she found his hands getting even tougher with her hips. His hips would back up off the couch sending him deep within her hard and fast. Her hands had roamed up his chest and over his shoulders. Her hands found themselves entangling in his hair. Tugging softly she struggled to hold back her moans as she felt her body growing more and more tense. She was almost surprised when the knot just suddenly snapped and her body spawned as she was crashed into by her orgasm. 

“Levi!” She nearly cried out as she felt her fingers tug rather roughly at his hair. She could hear his own low moan fill her ear as he chased after his own release as his hips continued to roughly buck against hers a few more times before he was able to enjoy his own orgasm.

The room filled with the sound of soft panting as Alex found herself just collapsed on the man’s lap trying to wait for her soul to return to her body. She untangled her fingers from his hair before resting her hands on his shoulders lightly. Once she felt she had regained control of herself she slowly sat up to look up into Levi’s typical stoic look. Though this time his face looked a bit softer, eyes were not so hard, lips no longer pressed into a firm line. Though he wasn’t exactly beaming down at her she still found herself softly smiling up at him. The soft look on his face was enough to tell her he too had enjoyed himself and that made her happy.


	22. Chapter 22

Alex slowly slid herself off her captain’s lap before she turned to start gathering up her clothes. She could hear Levi shift around softly, she assumed doing the same thing as her and getting redressed. But she didn’t look back to see for sure as she picked her panties up off the floor slipping them back on before looking for the rest of her clothes as she got dressed. After all she knew how much the captain hated clutter and mess in his office, or really anywhere around him. 

It didn’t even take her a minute and she had fully redressed herself. She turned back towards her captain in time to see him also fully dressed and standing up from the couch. His steel hard eyes glanced over at her before he made his way back to his desk. He looked like nothing had changed, as if what had just happened never did. Why did that sting a little? 

“You're dismissed for the night cadet,” he said simply as he slipped into his chair once again behind his desk. 

“Sir?” She couldn’t help the questioning tone surprised to hear she was dismissed so early in the evening. 

“Go get cleaned up and return to your room for the night,” was his simple explanation of what he expected from her. 

“Yes sir,” she said softly as she turned to grab her journal from the spot that it had still somehow remained on the couch. 

She didn’t even wish him a good night as she walked from his room. She felt the urge to run out, what the hell had she done? She had acted on her feelings, had let herself get carried away. Clearly the captain was going to treat the act of their actions as if they never happened. But could she? Alex knew she couldn’t, the aching in her heart as she walked down the hall from his room told her she wouldn’t be able to. And she feared this was a decision she may regret. Was it too late to try and transfer out of his squad? She squeezed the journal to her chest as she struggled to calm her breathing as she entered her room. The journal gently placed on her desk she dragged her feet to the trunk at the foot of her bed grabbing her clean night gown she slowly made her way out of her room. Maybe a bath would help her calm down a little before she would attempt to sleep, though it wouldn’t come so easily for her as her head was full of concern, what if’s and regret that she hated. 

Levi had returned to his paperwork, his pen running over the paper signing it as he fell into his own mind working like a robot as he pondered himself. He cursed himself for allowing himself to do such an act with a cadet, he was her superior and he had used her to release some of his own frustrations and tension. She was just another brat, or at least she was supposed to be. The man had never felt a need for sex, he was often busy and people annoyed him, fuck she annoyed him. And yet why the sudden slip up? 

Hange’s teasing from weeks earlier filled his mind when the brunette moron had been teasing him about having feelings for the girl. He didn’t believe it, he didn’t think he had treated the blonde woman any different. And yet the more he sat there thinking about it the more irritated he grew. He didn’t send her out on patrols often, he didn’t really give her any orders. Aside from stable duty she wasn’t given any other orders like everyone else. It seemed that Hange had noticed it far before he did. That realization alone was irritating to the man. Why did he treat her so differently? It was odd to him and he seemed to struggle with the idea. Denial, that’s what the man was in. Refusing to admit he treated her differently and saw her differently was meant to keep her away, keep him safe. But he would never admit that, it was safer for his heart if he kept people away. So when they died in him it wouldn’t hurt so bad. But could he really keep her away?

The next morning as usually Alex was the last person to get up and eat. Petra though was early as always when Levi strolled into the mess hall with a tired Eren in tow. Each grabbing their breakfast they moved to sit down. But before Levi started to dig in his mind wandered to his blonde subordinate. The images of the night before had refused to leave the man’s head and he hated it. But he had noticed her clothes were old and really didn’t fit well aside from the government issued uniform. 

“Petra. You and cadet Racher take the day off, maybe go to town and enjoy some free time,” he said simply trying to hint the best he could for the older woman to take the younger one into town and go shopping. 

Petra was a bit surprised to hear the captain tell her to take the day off, her and the younger woman. But the surprise didn’t last long before she beamed a large smile at her captain. 

“Thank you sir that sounds like a brilliant plan,” she said, actually liking the idea of taking a day off and going into town. With a nod of his head the captain was happy to hear the woman say his plan sounded good. And with that the table grew silent as they started to eat before the remainder of the team strolled into the mess hall. 

Alex had ended up running into Gunther and Eld in the hall on their way to the mess hall. She trailed behind them as they chatted about the upcoming exploration beyond the wall that was now only a couple of sleeps away. The thought of going out behind the wall actually put a little energy in the girl's step. 

“What’s it actually like beyond the wall?” She asked, surprising the two taller men as they paused to turn and look back at her. They hadn’t even noticed she was following them down the hall. 

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t beautiful in some ways. But also terrifying,” Eld answered her with a rather honest answer in her eyes. The corner of her lips tugged up softly as she nodded her head. 

“So besides the titans and death it’s actually beautiful?” She asked with an arch of her eye brow. She was actually surprised to find herself walking with the two men now included in their chat as they walked into the mess hall. 

“It is,” Gunther answers this time which was rather surprising. Now she really did want to see the outside world. It had never interested her before to want to go out exploring. But the memory of Eren bringing up wanting to see the ocean one morning while mucking out stables made her think. Maybe Eren wasn’t some idiot for wanting to see the world beyond the walls like she had originally thought. 

Their chat ended as the trio grabbed some food and made their way over to the table to join the rest of the team. Eren looked a bit surprised to see the blonde chatting with her two older comrades, and them returning the conversation. But it just brought a grin to Eren’s face as Alex took her regular seat beside him. 

“Good morning,” Eren greeted her warmly as he always did. 

“Ugh you have too much energy in the morning,” was the reply Alex gave like normal which had Eren laugh. 

“Nah you're just not a good enough morning person,” he retorted, which got him a punch in the arm though he didn’t even flinch. Instead he laughed harder at her attempt to punch him as they sat side by side. Though Alex wouldn’t admit it she enjoyed Eren’s banter giving her something to focus on other than wanting to look over at her captain scared to meet his hard gaze although she could feel his eyes on her she refused to look over at him as he drank his morning tea. 

Once finished with her breakfast Alex gathered her dishes and was making her way to the kitchen before she heard light footsteps chasing after. A glance over her shoulder revealed her other female teammate. She paused and arched an eyebrow at the woman when she noticed she was trotting over towards her. 

“Alex, the captain has given us both the day off. I’m thinking of heading into town and doing some shopping. Would you like to go with me?” She asked, giving the girl a soft smile. Alex tried to hide her surprise even though she probably failed. She didn’t have any clue that the captain had given her the day off. Ugh why wasn’t she allowed to sleep in then? Oh well. 

“Sure that would be fun,” she said, struggling to find a way to refuse the woman’s offer. She didn’t want to upset her superior with a refusal although she was tired and if she did indeed have the day off like the woman said she would have rather headed back to her bed for some more sleep. Or to be honest she would have just continued on with her day the ways she had the last few weeks. 

“Sounds great I’m gonna get changed and I’ll meet you at the stables in half an hour,” Petra said before turning to head towards her own room deciding to get out of uniform and get into her civilian clothes . Alex paused for a second as she placed the bowls down and sighed. She really didn’t have a lot of civilian cloths. She slowly made her way to her room unsure of what she was going to wear. She took off her leathers and boots. She had another pair of pants a mid brown that she tossed on. She remained in her white button up but also took her cloak and brown jacket off and tossed them onto the back of her wooden chair at her desk. Slipped on a pair of flats before making her way out of the castle and towards the stable where she stood and waited will she saw the bubbly and rather happy looking woman bounding towards her as she brushed the two horses out as she waited. It took only a few minutes to get the two horses tacked up and ready to head out. 

“Alright let’s head out,” called Petra rather excited to hear into the nearest town and do some shopping. Petra mounted her horse with ease as she looked over at her younger teammate. She had noticed the woman was wearing her standard uniform top still. The pants she wore were a little short, everything screamed she didn’t have a lot of civilian clothes. And now Petra could see why the captain had encouraged the day off and to go shopping. Clearly the young cadet needed new clothes. 

“Lead the way,” Alex said as she mounted her own horse and waited for Petra to lead the way towards the closest town. It wasn’t long of a ride as they slowly loped towards the town and its shopping district. 

Arriving at one of the scout stables they dismounted and left the horses to start walking around the town. Petra was rather happy and bubbly having an opportunity to actually enjoy having a fellow female teammate and companion. Alex was a little less excited but didn’t wish to bring down Petra’s excitement as they walked side by side. 

“Where should we start? Hmm oh look a cute little clothing shop,” Petra hummer as they walked before a shop caught her eye and she nearly dragged the small blonde over with her. 

As much as Alex hated shopping she clearly needed more clothes, and Petra had good tastes as she picked outfits out for the blonde. The conversations between the two were rather one sided with Petra doing most of the talking but that seemed okay with Alex giving small simple replies when Petra would ask a question. From the clothing shop with new outfits in hand Petra even dragged her over to a little place selling makeup and somehow Alex got talking into buying a little bit of makeup she would probably never use. 

As they were walking through the shopping district it was a little art booth that caught the blondes attention as she stopped to look over at the art supplies they had visible for sale. Petra paused surprised to see the girl actually take an interest in anything. 

“I’ve seen you drawing around the castle. You should go see what supplies they have,” Petra said, encouraging the girl. 

“Okay,” she said as the two made their way over. The art supplies may not have interested Petra but it was interesting to watch large brown eyes light up as she glanced her gaze over the paint brushes, canvas material, sketch books, and all sorts of art supplies.

Alex ended up buying herself an actual sketch book, some different types of pencils and even some charcoal. With her hands full of bags she was starting to wonder how she was gonna ride back with so much to hold onto. She had a number of bags with new clothes, a few new shirts, a new pair of pants, even a skirt and dress which were more feminine than what she usually wore, also some new underwear and bras sat in another bag. A small bit of makeup sat in another bag and her art supplies in the last bag. As much as Alex had not wanted to go she oddly had found it rather nice to spend the vast majority of the day with Petra and getting to know the other woman.


	23. Chapter 23

It actually wasn't that hard to tie her bags to the saddle and allow them to sit along the side of her horse. And of course her loyal steed didn't bat an eye as she mounted up. Freeing her hands up that made it easy for her to ride back with Petra. Alex couldn't even deny it; she smiled warmly at the other woman as she chatted on their way back. They still even had a little while before dinner would be started. The ride back was nice as the two horses walked side by side. 

"That was fun, it was really nice. None of the guys ever want to go shopping with me," Petra said as she looked over to meet the gaze of the girl beside her. Alex had to ponder, when was the last time she had gone shopping and enjoyed herself even a little? Usually she only grabbed new clothes when she had to, finding shopping to be a pain. 

"We will have to do it again some time," Alex said softly as she gave the other woman a smile. She couldn't deny she had found it nice to spend the day with someone. And Petra didn't seem to mind the small woman's short answers when they chatted. Though as the day when Alex had found herself warming up to her fellow soldier. That seemed to make Petra happy as her face lit up as the old castle came into view as they rode towards it. The small chatting came to an end as they walked into the front courtyard of the castle and walked towards the front door. 

Petra's horse was loaded with bags of clothes and other things the woman had bought during their shopping trip. Alex dismounted easily from her horse as she watched Petra start to gather up her bags. 

"Here I'll take your horse to the stable," Alex said, reaching for the gelding's reins as she got a wide smile from Petra. 

"Thanks," she said smiling as she loaded her hands with her bags and started to walk into the castle. Alex had no issues taking her bags with her from the stable since she didn't have very many. With one horse on either side she started to walk the horses back to the stable where she untied her bags, then started to untack the horses putting them away before she started to feed the horses. Finally done she grabbed her bags and made her way to the castle and to her room where she put her new clothes away in her trunk with her uniforms. Leaving her civilian clothes on she made her way towards the mess hall imaging the group would be gathering to eat soon. And of course she was right as Petra, Levi and Eren were already present as Alex walked into the large room. 

With a bowl of flavourless soup in hand and a small loaf of bread she once again took her seat beside Eren. 

"How was the shopping trip?" Eren asked as he glanced over at his friend as she sat beside him. 

"It was good, I was able to get myself some new clothes. We even found a little art supply booth and I was able to get some more pencils and paper," she said honestly and a true smile pulled at her lips as she mentioned her new art supplies so she now had some actual proper papers and supplies for her drawing. Still even now Alex couldn't bring herself to look up and over at her captain who remained sitting at his spot at the head of the table. 

"Oh that's really good," Eren mumbled around a mouthful of bread. To which Alex glared at him and scolded him for talking with his mouth full. To which he mumbled something about her not being his mother. Which earned him a whack over the back of his head from the blonde. Of course their antics brought chuckles from a few people at the table who were eating and watching the entertainment that was the two new cadets. It was nice to see the team pulling together at least a little bit right before a big mission. It would make it a bit easier for them all to work as a unit. As much as they all hoped to avoid fighting at the end of the day they were about to go running out into the wide open space full of titans. Fighting at some point is nearly impossible to avoid, they were all aware of that. 

Dinner ended as people started to slowly leave the table. Eren seemed happy to stay as he was chatting with the girl beside him trying to buy time before being locked up in the basement of the castle as he usually was at night. 

"Are you really ready to head outside the wall in two days?" Eren asked her softly once it was only him, her and Levi left at the table. Though it seemed Eren was the only one who even paid Levi any attention as the dark haired man sat back looking unamused sipping his tea as the two younger cadets talked. 

"Yes. This is a day I have been waiting years for. Not only a chance to see the outside world, but hopefully a chance to take on some titans," she said in a low tone as she felt her hands turn to fists under the table. She could feel both sets of eyes at the table watching her as her body had tended and her eyes had gazed down at the table as she felt some of her hair falling down in front of her face shadowing her eyes a little. 

"I feel the same way," Eren replied though his was a softer reply which had her blink and pick her head up to look at him as he seemed uneasy. She knew he still had issues with controlling his titan form and not a lot had come from Hange's visits and attempted research of the boy. 

"You know I've thought about what we become as we fight titans. In order to survive this world we must become demons such as the ones we fight. It does us no good to hold onto something as sentimental as humanity. We must cast those feelings aside along with our fears or regrets we may have," she said softly as she voiced the thought that had been going through her head knowing that at least some scouts were most likely going to lose their life's on this excursion. How many? No one knows in the moment till they return, most likely bloody and beaten like most other missions outside the wall. Picking her eyes up she watched Eren look at her with wide green eyes, while Levi looked unmoved as always but still both sets of eyes were on her. 

"But what do I know? I'm sure the Captain has a far better idea of what it's like living and fighting titan's," she said quickly trying to change the attention from both eyes from her. Especially the captains as she shivered under his gaze. 

"No, your perspective is not far off," was the simple reply Levi gave her before he took a sip of his tea. He had hid it well but he was surprised to see the girl show such a dark side of herself with those words, but her words sounded more like they had come from a seasoned scout than some new rookie that had not even been beyond the wall. Though she did have the advantage of seeing titans and battle already. It couldn't be ignored she had seen more than any typical rookie. Both of the two brats had more experience than most fresh from training, along with the background of both their childhoods coming from Shiganshina during the fall of wall Maria.

His agreeing with her oddly had her smiling softly a soft blush splattered her cheeks as her heart started to race. She ripped her eyes away from the dark haired man as she tried to calm herself down a little. The silence at the table suddenly felt heavy and suffocating to the blonde as she sat there before suddenly pushing herself up to her feet. 

"Well I got clothes to put away from today's shopping trip. I'll see you in the morning Eren. Captain," she said smiling down at Eren and giving her captain a simple nod before she nearly ran from the room. Though the second she left the mess hall she sighed softly, running from her captain wouldn't do her any good when she was once again forced to suffer her childish punishment of being babysat at night. Oh well she wanted to enjoy as much time away from him as possible as she slowly headed to her room to wait for as long as she could before heading to the captain's room where she would have to suffer in silence as if the night before had never happened, as if her existing feelings didn't exist.

She spent the next hour simply cleaning her room a little though there wasn't much to clean. She didn't own much so there was little to worry about in the sense of mess or clutter. She dusted the room and whipped down all the surfaces. Finally she sighed and grabbed the journal she had forgot to fill in the night before and a new pencil before she headed to the captain's room knocking softly on the door as she called out her name. 

"Come in," came after a rather noticeable pause. Was he not expecting her since he gave her the day off? She wasn't sure but non the less and walked into his room as she had for the last couple weeks. 

"Sir," she greeted him with a nod of her head before she started to walk towards the couch. He didn't say anything or even look up from his desk as he worked at paperwork. She was starting to wonder if he did anything other than paper work night after night? 

Both remained silent while she sat on the couch filling in her journal for Hange for the last two days. She didn't write down her concerns about Eren's lack of control, best to keep those concerns to herself as surely if the higher ups needed to know about it surely Hange was aware of Eren's lack of control and the unease that put on those around him. She kept her notes simple and to the point simply explaining once again the kids day to day tasks. The fact that he seemed to never just suddenly lose control was noted. Though she didn't hide the fact she still felt Eren was a bit naive at times with his powers. But otherwise the kid remained currently harmless. With that Alex finished her journal entries and closed the book. Tomorrow night may be the last time she could fill in the pages of the book with her thoughts till who knows how long. She expected the mission outside the walls would surely be longer than a day. Closing the book she finally glanced over at Levi and watched as his pen dipped into some ink before moving over a piece of paper. 

Alex couldn't help but start to feel her stomach tighten and her nerves feeling a little uneasy as her mind started to wonder about the mission to come. What was it like outside the walls? For once she got a chance to see what it would be like to be outside of the walls. The Titan's didn't scare her as much as the unknown about the world itself. She had heated Armin's stories of the outside world once while at training. It had her curious when the blonde boy had mentioned it to Mikasa and Eren one evening. Curious she had asked him about it in private at first scaring the kid but you were able to get him to talk soon enough. She couldn't deny it completely sparked her curiosity in the outside world. 

But Levi must have noticed her uneasiness suddenly, it didn't help that she was fiddling with her fingernails as she sat on the couch. An action she didn't usually do. It wasn't hard to piece together the fact that the mission was two sleeps away. Everyone was feeling the effects of nerves and worry that hung in the air. 

"There's no need to be nervous," he called out simply as he worked. 

Alex paused and whipped her head over to look at him surprised to hear him attempt to sooth her worry a little. Even though he could have done a better job but yet it was still a warming thought that he offered her some words of encouragement. 

"Thank you sir, I may be a bit nervous. But I think I am far more excited than nervous," she answered honestly and could image the man was looking at her oddly as she felt his gaze on her but she had moved her own eyes to glance down at her fingers that she had been fiddling with before she continued, "as crazy as that sounds." 

"You're not the first person to find going beyond the wall exciting," he said simply though didn't say anything else. The room went silent aside from the sound of his pen moving over the paper in front of him. Why was it that for a second she swore his voice sounded sad? Maybe she had simply assumed she heard the chance in his voice for a second? She wasn't sure nor did it seem he would give her a chance to figure it out. 

"You're dismissed. Your punishment is also over. Tomorrow evening spend the time preparing to leave and make sure you get a good night's sleep tomorrow," at that last bit of his comment she watched him toss a glare over at her. She flashed her captain a sheepish grin as if she didn't know what he was talking about. Though it seemed she couldn't hide her often sleepless nights from her. 

"Good night then Captain," she said as she stood up the journal in hand giving him a salute before making her way towards his door. She had saluted him this time. What was the last time she had done that when it was just the two of them? She had noticed quickly that Levi didn't seem to care about formality. The first time she didn't salute him was during a childish antic. She had intended to piss him off but he was unbothered. She kept it up and now it seemed odd to salute him in private. She would always salute him around other officers or people in general but when alone after hours together she had stopped doing it at some point. But now walking back to her room she realized she had grown far too informal with her captain. She needed to remind herself that what had happened has not changed a thing between them. They were still a superior and subordinate and nothing was likely to change that. And yet why did her heart ache when she told herself that? 

God damn it! these childish feelings were annoying. And yet she somehow could not force them away. At best she could sweep them under the rug and try her best to ignore them and pretend they didn't exist. But how long could she do that for? Damn it she would do it for as long as she had to while she was a soldier. 

She found herself in her bedroom moving like a zombie as she changed into her nightgown. She was simply moving on autopilot as she changed and sat on her bed stuck in her mind as she struggled with herself. She knew she needed to ignore her stupid feelings but they refused to just go away and pushing them as side wouldn't be much easier of a task either. She suddenly felt the urge to rip her hair out in frustration as she growled to herself. She knew she needed to go to sleep. Getting as much sleep as she could the next two nights would be important but still she knew sleep wouldn't come easily as her mind continued to race even as she laid her head back onto her pillow.


End file.
